Light vs dark, Water vs fire
by xkaichoux
Summary: Okay so let me get this straight, you kidnapped us because Nindie over here is the spirit of rain, and you think we could be a problem to you becoming shaman king?" "Correct" Hao said. "Wait I still don't get it, can you run it by me again?" HaoxOC, Romance/adventure/humour/drama
1. C1 Kidnapped

**Chapter 1 - Kidnapped**

When her eyes opened to the fathomless blackness of her surroundings, Shinji had to blink for a moment. This sure wasn't where she had fallen asleep, and when she thought of it, she actually couldn't remember falling asleep at all. She strained her memory trying to think of what had happened to land her here, wherever here was, but it hurt too much to think, so she gave up pretty quickly and groaned to the pain of her pounding skull. If she was a drinker, she would have brushed it off as a killer hangover, but she wasn't, and as she lifted her hand to the back of her head she noticed a very large and extremely sore lump. Clumsily, she stood up on wobbly legs and attempted to see a way out of the dark, but there was nothing to be seen. She waved a hand in front of her face experimentally, but even that was lost in the black. Surely her eyes should have adjusted by now? Unless she was somehow blind... Could a knock to the back of the head do that to someone?

"Is it dark in here, or am I going blind?" she asked aloud, not really expecting an answer and her voice echoed off the walls.

"You're inside a cave, idiot." A familiar voice answered, and Shinji squinted in the dark.

"Nindie?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm here." The voice replied, and Shinji felt the cold touch of death brush her arm. The presence of the ghost girl reassured her a little. Whatever had happened, she could get out of it with the spirit's help.

"What the hell happened? Because I definitely don't remember falling asleep in a place like this, and my head is killing me!" She asked.

A cool hand rested against the back of her head, soothing her headache and giving Shinji another reason to feel grateful for her friend's presence.

"Some big guy in one of those American football outfits knocked you out in the street and brought you here." Nindie explained.

"Well why the hell didn't you stop him! You're the spirit of rain for crying out loud!" Shinji yelled in frustration. Her head was killing her, it was dark, and this place wasn't exactly an advertisement for warmth and comfort. She was not in the best of moods.

Nindie hesitated for a moment, "There was a complication..."

"What kind of complication?"

There was an awkward pause, but before Nindie could reply an intense light burst into the dark space, and Shinji had to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness.

"Ah my eyes! Man this is sooo not helping my headache." She frowned, blinking into the light cautiously. Ah here eyes slowly stopped stinging and she moved her hands away she noticed that what her spirit friend had said was right. She was stuck inside a cave, and not a very big one at that. Nindie had moved beside her, the small, seemingly fragile girl glaring in front of her with deep blue eyes. But it was the figure across the small space that caught Shinji's attention, and she knew exactly who he was even after five hundred years. She couldn't help herself from bursting into laughter at the sight of him. "Oh my god Hao, you're a little kid!"

Hao glared at her, but it was true. This new reincarnation was shorter, Shinji noted with an amused grin, and younger, looking to be in the middle of his teen years, but his overall style was the same as ever. The same extremely long hair (though brown this time around as opposed to the black he had before), the same oversized poncho (just without the Native American flair), and even the giant plates he called earrings hung from his earlobes. The only differences were the strange block shoes ('_someone's been to Lego land') _and the weird trousers… If it wasn't for the eerily menacing aura he would have looked fairly harmless, if a little strange.

"Speak for yourself." Hao replied.

"I am not! I'm fifteen!" Shinji snapped back.

"You look ten." He smirked, already pleased to have struck a nerve so easily.

"Well... you look like a girl!"

"You don't."

"Ah what do you want anyway? Why are we here?" she asked, suddenly impatient for some answers.

"I brought you here." He replied simply, still smirking at her.

"And why is that?" she replied, trying to control her rising temper. Her glare made his smirk grow. He knew she was getting angry, the red colour in her eyes made it obvious.

"Because you have Nindie, and I will not let you ruin my chances of becoming shaman king again." Clearly Hao was not one to forgive and forget, though Shinji couldn't help but feel flattered that he still thought of her as a threat. It was unnecessary though, she could tell he had gotten a lot stronger since their last battle, and as much as she hated to admit it he might actually be too much for her to handle. Still, that didn't mean she would give him the satisfaction of rolling over and showing her throat like some weak minded puppy. Besides, it was fun to mess with him.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You kidnapped us because Nindie is the spirit of rain, and given our history you think we're a threat to you becoming shaman king?"

"Correct."

"…Wait, I still don't get it. Could you run it by me again?" she had to fight to control her grin as his smirk died, only to be replaced with a dark frown.

"You are an idiot."

"And you are an asshole."

"I could kill you."

She knew it was a bad idea to push him further, but she couldn't help it.

"I'd like to see you try."

Before she even had time to blink he had grabbed her by the throat and slammed her hard against the cave wall, glaring at her with a dark flame burning in his eyes. Nindie moved to attack, to defend her friend, but Shinji caught her gaze and shook her head, and the ghost girl grudgingly held herself back. Shinji turned her attention back to Hao, meeting his gaze challengingly, and making him smirk.

"You know I could." he said, staring at her intently, "The only reason you are still alive is because I want you to be."

"That's not creepy and/or stalkerish at all." She replied, attempting a grin that ended up looking more like a grimace. His grip was uncomfortably tight, but she couldn't resist the insult.

Surprisingly, Hao didn't take the bait, and after a long hard stare he released her neck and stepped back.

"Make yourself comfortable. You'll be here for a very long time." And with that, he turned and left the cave, placing a barrier at the entrance, trapping her inside.


	2. C2 Crossing That Bridge

Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang.

Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.

**Chapter 2- Crossing That Bridge**

They had been trapped inside the cave for many days now, and not once had Hao visited, which in Nindie's opinion was a good thing. Although at first irritated by her captive state, Shinji was growing to like the new sense of motivation it brought her. It seemed that the only thing she had been doing lately was training without any real feeling behind it, and as much as she wanted become shaman king she didn't have any motivation because everyone she had fought was far too easy for her. Her first match in the tournament has lasted all of thirty seconds, and although she had now missed her second match thanks to the sudden kidnapping, she was certain that she could tackle whatever was thrown at her in her third. If there was any bright side to this situation it was that there wasn't any bigger challenge life could throw at her than Hao Asakura.

As the light slowly dimmed out of the view of the cave entrance the candles lining the inside walls all spontaneously lit, casting fantastic shadows into the deep crevices of the walls and dancing across the floor with the flickering flames. The warm glow sparkled on the small trickle of the water dripping down of the ceiling at the far corner of the room. Shinji was beyond grateful for that little dribble of liquid because it had both provided her with drinking water, and entertainment. She sat with her back against the hard stone, weaving a small ball of water between her fingers and transforming it into numerous different shapes. Nindie on the over hand, lay on her stomach, floating an inch off the ground with an open book placed in front of her. The barrier blocking the entrance kept her trapped inside as well, and she was eternally thankful that Shinji had the bag of supplies that contained her book when she was knocked out.

Behind her, Shinji laughed loudly, making the spirit jump and glare around at her companion who had manipulated the small sphere of water into a mini replica of Hao's face, and was distorting it into several funny facial expressions. Nindie sighed in irritation, and snapped her book shut with a sharp stream of water.

"Your immaturity never ceases to amaze me." She snapped in annoyance.

Shinji looked up briefly, before continuing to abuse Hao's watery face. "Someone's a little crabby." She replied absently.

"We've been here four days already, why are we still here!" Nindie cried.

"What's the big rush? It's not like we have to be anywhere."

"You haven't had a shower in four days, Shinji. You haven't eaten anything but the bag of cookies you stored in your pocket, and don't even get my started on your apparently non-existent toilet habits."

"That seems a little hypocritical coming from a ghost," Shinji countered with a cheeky grin, "And what's it matter to you whether I shower or not? You can't smell me. And besides, it's not like I haven't been washing with that water dripping down off the roof."

"That's not the point. We can't stay here much longer, it's not healthy for you."

The concern in her friend's voice made Shinji frown. She hated when people worried about her. "Relax Nindie, I _am_ a shaman. We've been in worse situations than this plenty of times. I think I'll live. Besides, it's actually weirdly comfortable here."

"Well what happens if we get a match? We missed the last one, so we definitely have to make the next one or we're out of the tournament."

"Don't worry; we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Suddenly the room began to flash an unnatural blue from the light of the oracle bell, and the chiming echoed around the walls. Shinji winced slightly, and sheepishly peeked at the ghost girl, who was folding her arms with a smug look on her face.

"What were you saying about that bridge?"

Shinji rolled her eyes in response, and lifted her arm to take a look at the name illuminating her screen. Her face paled, going almost as white as her hair.

"Oh no."

Somehow, with all her confidence, she hadn't thought of this kind of complication. Her next opponent was Luchist Lasso, one of Hao's main followers. The fight itself wouldn't be a problem, Luchist wasn't a pushover but he didn't have a thousand years of experience behind him, the real issue was that there was no doubt that Hao knew about the match already, and that made escaping a whole lot harder than she had anticipated. There was no time to dwell on it now though, the only thing she had on her side was the small chance that she might be able to break out before Hao could get there. Without a second thought she snatched up her bag, worked her hands through a series of rapid hand signs, and swiftly broke the seal on the entrance. The cold night air buffered against her face, and her hair, almost glowing against the darkness, whipped around her back as she stepped into the night. Nindie followed close behind, scanning the surrounding area cautiously.

For a moment Shinji felt a breath of relief escape her, but then she saw the first flicker of a flame appearing in front of her, and her relief vanished. Less than a second later a roaring blaze had formed, and Hao was stepping out of the flames, a smug smirk on his face. She glared at him darkly. There was no way she could avoid him now, especially not with the spirit of fire suddenly appearing behind him.

Nindie didn't need to be told that it was time to even the odds, and with a bright flash she had transformed into the huge, imposing form of the spirit of rain. Even in her giant spirit form though, she couldn't quite match up to the spirit of fire in size, and Shinji found herself wondering what on earth Hao had been feeding it.

"Spirits." Hao said, answering her unspoken question, "And if it weren't for the potential risk of putting nature out of balance I would have fed her to it long ago."

Shinji unintentionally flashed him a horrified look, which only seemed to make his smirk grow, before she quickly schooled her features.

While the spirits sized each other up, the shaman were busy playing at indifference.

"Going somewhere?" Hao asked casually, blocking her way as she tried to step around him.

"Yes actually, I have a previous engagement to attend to, so if you'll excuse me…" she said, working hard to keep her voice even and attempting to go around him again. He grabbed her wrist in a vice like grip that held her in place. The spirits towering over them vanished, and without a word gave their support to their shaman. An Intense heat radiated off of his body and she had to summon a layer of water over her arm to stop him from burning her skin. As the heat grew so did the water, spreading over her whole body and she grabbed onto his arm in an attempt to pull him off, failing miserably and then glaring at his smug smile.

"You're not going anywhere." He said.

"And you think you can stop me?" she laughed, though sounding a lot less threatening than she had hoped.

"Yes, I do." He replied, pulling her body close to his. She could feel the water around her beginning to evaporate.

Shinji jerked back, finally getting free, and shot a high powered jet of water at him. Within a few inches of his face, the water vanished, leaving her stunned.

"What the…?"

Hao simply smirked, and with a slight wave of his arm hundreds of fireballs burst into life around him, fighting away the darkness of the night with a flickering luminosity. Wide eyed, Shinji hastily threw up a shield of water just as the barrage of fire flew towards her. She clenched her teeth and braced herself, her watery shield holding fast on the onslaught that didn't seem to be letting up. Several times a fire ball slipped through, singing her clothes and burning her outstretched arms. The shield was weakening, steam rising up into the sky from the intense heat and Shinji had to continuously feed her mana into it to keep it up. Suddenly the attack ended, but before she could even hope to relax, Hao appeared behind her, kicking her hard in the back and sending her flying through her own shield. Before she hit the ground she spun, twisting her body to face him and throwing out her arms. The shield froze over, splitting apart into thousands of tiny needle like points of ice that shot towards the fire shaman at a blinding speed. Fire instantly blazed up around him, blocking him from view, but as the flames died down he was no longer there.

Shinji quickly sprung to her feet, readying herself for the next attack and peering into the dark cautiously. Hao appeared behind her, grabbing the back of her throat only to have his arm wrenched away as she spun around and slashed at him with a dark dagger of ice. He jumped back, and the knife sliced through the material of his poncho, but not before he burned through the flesh of her side with a well timed fireball.

The pain of her scorched skin was nearly unbearable compared to the smaller burns on her arms, and Shinji screamed through gritted teeth in pain and rage, while her eyes bled to a deep, dangerous red.

"You asshole!" She cried in outrage, "What the hell did I ever do to you!?"

"You killed me." He snapped back, glaring sharply at her from the clearing.

"...Oh yeah, right...oops." She replied sheepishly, her anger fading.

"I may not be able to get revenge on that fool Asakura Yohken, but I can make you suffer. And there won't be anyone to help you now."

"Oh come on Hao, lighten up. That was five hundred years ago, you can't possibly still be m- aah!" She cried, ducking as a fireball came flying at her head, "Okay, so maybe you can still be mad."

Another fireball was lobbed at her, and she winced as she dodged, holding her burned side as if it would lessen the pain. It didn't, and suddenly Hao was behind her once again. Shinji ducked as he reached for her, moving to sweep his legs out from under him, and as he jumped over her leg she slashed at him with a large chunk of ice. He grunted as it clipped his jaw, knocking his head back. Shinji took the advantage, shooting a high powered jet of water that blasted him back several feet.

She leapt away from him, watching warily from the other side of the clearing as his hand went to his chin and blood stained his fingertips.

"Ha, take that!" Shinji gloated with glee. It had taken a while but she had finally gotten a good hit on him. "Now who's the weak one?"

He chuckled slightly, rubbing the crimson liquid between his fingers as he looked up and smirked. The sight caught Shinji off guard. Why was he smirking? He should be going nuts-Oh, she made him bleed! Something wasn't right here. And then she saw it. The mark on his chin was shrinking, the skin closing back over the wound as if it had never even been there. A cold breath of fear shivered down her spine as realization dawned on her. Hao could heal, and she could not.

'_This is going to be harder than I thought.'_

**XXXXXXXX**


	3. C3 A Deal

Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .

Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.

**Chapter 3- A Deal**

It felt like hours before Shinji fell weakly to her knees, her head was dizzy from blood loss and her limbs shaking. Hao stood across the clearing, a smirk spread across his lips as the fire ball in his hand vanished and his stance relaxed. He had read it from her mind before she had even spoken aloud. This was the end of their fight. Her wounds had become too numerous, and unlike him she couldn't heal, and they bled all over the ground.

With a pained sigh Shinji called Nindie out of her oversoul and sat cross-legged on the ground.

Nindie appeared horrified, and hastily flew to her friend's side. "Shinji, what are you doing? We can still fight!" she urged, her eyes flicking nervously towards Hao.

"I just need a breather that's all." Shinji replied, resting her head in her hands in the vain attempt of trying to stop the trees spinning around her.

"You think he's going to let you?"Nindie cried, pointing an accusing finger in Hao's direction.

Shinji shot a brief glance at Hao, and then back at Nindie with a small laugh, "Yeah, he will."

The ghost girl mumbled angrily, unconvinced but unwilling to argue when her friend was bleeding everywhere. Instead she positioned herself protectively in front of her shaman, and began freezing over some of the more serious wounds to keep her blood inside her body. Shinji hardly felt it at all, in fact she hadn't been able to feel much except dizzy for a while now.

"Is it weird that I feel like I'm going to barf?" Shinji murmured with a grimace.

"I wouldn't know, it's been a while since I've been injured and all." Nindie replied with a pointed look that made Shinji laugh, and then wince.

"Alright, I can do this." She said, wobbling to her feet as her spirit flittered around her anxiously.

"Why don't you just give up," Hao spoke up, "you know you're going to lose anyway."

"Shut up, Hao. I'm not that weak."

"You look like you're about to fall over." As if on cue, she did, falling back onto her knees with a painful grunt.

Hao simply laughed and walked unhurriedly towards her. Nindie went wide eyed and dove in front of his path.

"Stay back!" she said, glaring at Hao with all the ferocity she could.

"Don't worry Nindie, if I die I can always come back again." Shinji reassured casually.

"Not if my spirit of fire eats your soul." Hao said with a grin, stopping a few feet away from the two girls.

"You wouldn't do that."

"And why not?"

"Because I'm cute!" Shinji laughed, pulling a puppy dog face. Nindie looked around and stared at her like she was crazy.

"After a thousand years you'd think she would stop cracking jokes in a serious situation." she said, frowning as Shinji smiled back innocently.

"Yeah, and obviously her self-confidence hasn't gone away with old age." Hao agreed with a smirk.

"Well I learned that from you Mr. "I'm going to take over the world because I am the best and no one can defeat me, muhahaha!"Shinji teased. Apparently that one was a little too far, because Hao started glaring at her again. He looked like he was about to say something, but Nindie cut him off.

"Shinji, put your hand to your head, do you feel hot?"

"Hmm..." Shinji mused and doing as instructed, "Actually I'm as cold as, as a cucumber! Hehehe. Hey, did someone turn the heating down?"

For the first time Nindie took a good look at her friend. Shinji's face was pale, and had almost taken on a translucent greenish tint. A thin layer of sweat covered her brow, and she could tell just from looking that her skin was clammy and no doubt cold to the touch. Hell Shinji probably felt as cold as the ghost girl herself. The smile on her lips was anything but reassuring, it was unnerving. Shinji was delusional, and Nindie kicked herself for not noticing how serious the situation was sooner. It felt even worse to know that Hao had realized before she even had, and if someone didn't do something soon then Shinji would die.

"Shit, shit shit shit!" She cried, before turning on Hao with rage in her eyes, "This is your fault! Why couldn't you just leave us alone?!"

"If you hadn't tried to escape-"

"We shouldn't have had to escape in the first place! Why did you bring us here? What on earth can you possibly want from us?"

"Guys please, stop arguing," Shinji said, "you're making the world spin." She lay down on her back, placing her hand on her head and groaning.

Nindie flew towards her in a panic, "Shinji! Shinji are you okay?"

"No. I suddenly feel like crap." She said, trying to sit up again, only to be urged back down by Nindie

"Shinji stop moving around so much! You're going to open your wound more." The ghost girl said gently.

"Oh yeah I forgot about that." Shinji answered, with a small laugh.

"I said stay still! Can't you even listen to me for one second?" Nindie scolded.

"I do listen. It just kind of goes in then back out the other side."

Nindie sighed, and started to freeze over the wounds again. It wouldn't do much good though, It might stop the bleeding, but the ice would do nothing to help her clammy skin, it could be causing as much trouble as it was stopping.

"You realize that isn't going to do much good." Hao said, pointing to the ice covering the particularly large burn on her side.

"What do you care? You're the one that got us into this mess!" Nindie snapped, "It's your fault if she dies!"

"Nindie calm down, if I die, then I die. It's no big deal." Shinji said, her eyes closing involuntarily as her eyelids became heavy.

"It is a big deal! If you die now you would have spent the last fifteen years dealing with that awful family for nothing! We put up with all their boring crap so that you might actually make it past twenty five for a change, you can't just give up now like its nothing! And what about the tournament?"

"I can always try again... some other time. Now let me rest... I feel... dizzy." Shinji murmured, before slipping into unconsciousness.

"Holy shit, Shinji! Shinji get up, you have to wake up now! For crying out loud I refuse to let you die so young again! Now WAKE UP!" Nindie cried anxiously, moving to shake her and passing right through her shoulders.

Hao watched as the ghost girl frantically tried to wake up the water shaman, but nothing worked, and it wouldn't be long now until the blood loss killed her completely. The cogs in his head began turning as an idea popped into his head, and a smirk slowly spread across his face. Logically he should let the girl die and then his problems would be over, but he had a feeling he could turn this situation to his advantage. Shinji Lemora might be the one that helped to kill him five hundred years ago, and despite how stupid she could be sometimes, it seemed like a waste to let her die so easily when she had so much potential. If he saved her, then she would be in his dept, and perhaps she would eventually join him. After all, it took a lot less for his other followers, and Luchist used to despise him to the extent of creating the Xlaws, and yet now he was one of Hao's most trusted followers. Yes, there was definitely potential in this. But then there was still the issue of the shaman tournament. There was no way he could allow her to continue in the fight. Her own drive to be shaman queen would get in the way of having her join him. If this was ever going to work she would have to be out of the running.

He paused for a moment, mulling over the idea in his head before speaking, "I can heal her."

Surprise and suspicion made Nindie stop, and she turned her head towards him with narrow eyes, "You can or you will?"

"Both, but only if you agree to make Shinji drop out of the Shaman Tournament." He explained, smirking at her.

She laughed bitterly, "I knew there would be a catch. You know she wouldn't listen to me even if I tried."

"Then lie." He replied simply.

Nindie glared at him. She didn't like it, in fact she hated it. Hated that she had to put her trust in Hao, and hated that she would be forced to lie to her friend to keep her alive, but she really couldn't think of any other way out of this situation. It was either drop out of the tournament or die, and she was not willing to let Shinji die, no matter how much the white haired shaman didn't seem to care. She would get it in the neck later, but frankly she didn't care if it meant Shinji was safe. She could suck up her pride for a moment if that was what it took.

"Fine." She growled out, "Now fix her."

Nindie didn't like the satisfied smirk that played across Hao's lips, but as he got to work healing Shinji's wounds and the colour started to return to her face, Nindie couldn't quite bring herself to care what this might mean for the future.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Woo that took a while, somehow I had a lot more trouble re-writing this chapter than the first two. Sorry if it's a day late =/ I'll start working on the fourth chapter and the new cover art right now =D**


	4. C4 Surprises

Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .

Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.

**Chapter 4- ****Surprises**

When her eyes slowly cracked open she was greeted to the horribly familiar sight of the cave ceiling and the flickering of candle light. She groaned in annoyance, and then tried to remember what exactly had happened to bring her back here. She had broken out, only to be met by Hao at the entrance, and then proceeded to get her ass handed to her until she fell unconscious. She groaned again, this time in humiliation. The last time she had passed out was almost a thousand years ago during her first life, and it was not an event that she had wanted to happen again.

"Shinji! You're awake!"Nindie cried frantically, rushing towards her friend as soon as she heard the second groan.

Shinji winced, and then silently wished that she hadn't made a sound so that she could collect her thoughts a little more first. Why had she tried to break out in the first place? Oh right, it was because of -

"The match! Nindie what happened to the match?" Shinji cried, pulling herself up into a sitting position and already set to grab her stuff and go again if it meant they still had a shot at making it.

Nindie paused and bit her lip, "We missed it," She lied, "The match was yesterday. I'm sorry Shinji."

The truth was that their match was in five hours, but as much as she hated it she had made a deal, and she intended to stick to her side of the bargain just as Hao had stuck to his. Shinji was alive and well, and that was enough. Still, lying to her friend made her nervous; Shinji was bound to find out eventually.

"What happened to my oracle bell?" Shinji asked, feeling at the bare part of her arm where the strange device used to be strapped. It felt weirdly light now, and she didn't like it.

"One of the Patch officials came and took it away last night." Again, that wasn't true. Hao had taken it away and burned it so that they wouldn't be able to receive any notification from the tournament. She didn't like it, but if she was going to lie then it was better that the contraption wasn't around to contradict anything she said if, in a few hours in time, it left any new messages about the match.

Shinji sighed and put her hands in her head, but as the white haired shaman spread her fingers and looked down to the ground her eyes caught a cream colour underneath her. Curiosity took over, and she moved aside and she stared at the fabric laid flat where she once sat. It was a poncho, one of Hao's ponchos to be exact. Before she had even realized it, she had balled the material up into her fist angrily.

"Where is he? I'm going to kill that bastard! How dare he stop me going to my match!" She snapped, leaping to her feet and throwing the poncho as far away from her as she could.

Nindie didn't have to be told who she was talking about. "Shinji, there's something you need to know about Hao-"

"What, that he's an asshole? I think I already knew that Nindie!" the shaman interrupted, stomping around the cave angrily.

"Well yeah, but no it wasn't that." The ghost girl replied awkwardly, "What I mean is that-"

"Someone should shoot him in the head? Because believe me Nindie, give me a gun and I will do it happily."

"No, what I was trying to say was that-"

"You don't want me to shoot him in the head?!"

"For crying out loud Shinji, shut up and let me finish!" Nindie snapped, effectively silencing her friends ranting. "Now look, after you passed out you'd lost so much blood that you were very close to dying. You were all pale and clammy and I kept yelling at you to wake up, but you didn't. And then Hao, he... he offered to heal you, and he did."

Shinji shot her sceptic look, "Nindie are you ill or something? You must not be thinking straight. There's no way Hao would offer to heal me."

"I'm dead you dumb ass, I can't get sick! Hao healed you, and then he brought you back here. Don't ask me why, it would take an evil genius to work out what goes through his mind. But the point is that you're alive, and that's all that matters."

"But we're out of the tournament."

"Yes, but you're alive."

"But if it wasn't for Hao I would be alive and would have gotten to my match."

Shinji had her there, and it was hard to defend Hao when Nindie really didn't want to in the first place. Although she really wasn't trying to defend Hao, more that she was trying to keep Shinji from getting into anymore trouble, and going after Hao would definitely cause a few problems. With any luck the crazed pyromaniac would let them go now that Shinji was out of the shaman tournament. But then again this was Hao, so she highly doubted it.

The bright fiery flash from behind alerted them of Hao's presence before he had even bothered to speak, and before Nindie could stop her Shinji had spun around and marched off towards him, the blue of eyes bleeding into a dangerous red with rage.

"You! You are such a- a- ah I can't think of the word, but think of something really bad and that is what you are!"

"Is that the kind of greeting you should give to the person who saved your life?" Hao replied with an arrogant smirk.

"I don't owe you anything; you're the one that tried to kill me in the first place!" She bit back.

You're really ungrateful, you know that?" He snapped, already irritated.

"Oh I'm sorry," she said in a sickly sweet voice, and quickly forming a ball of water into her hand from the dripping water in the ceiling, "thanks for ruining my chances in the tournament, and almost killing me!" she yelled sarcastically, before throwing the water in his face.

Less than a second later he had grabbed her wrist and slammed her up against the cave wall so hard she thought her back might break. His free hand rested beside her head and caged her in as he leaned down to her so that they were face to face, and only inches apart. She glared at him, though the faintest hint of a smug smile graced her lips as the water dripped off of his face. Very slowly, his dark frown turned into his usual smirk, and the hand on the wall moved around to cup her chin. She resisted the urge to bite his fingers, but only just.

"You know, you really need to start realizing the situation you are in." He said, making her frown.

"And you need to stop being such an ass."

He laughed at that, something Shinji really didn't expect, and then did something even more surprising. In one fluid motion, he leaned forward, closing the distance between them and placed his lips firmly over hers. Her brain instantly shut down, and like a deer caught in headlights she was petrified to the spot. His lips were surprisingly soft, and yet demandingly they took control of her mouth without her even being fully aware what was happening. When his tongue brushed against her lips her brain finally registered what Hao was doing, and she jerked back violently, pushing him away with her one free hand. She tried to speak, but apparently that part of her brain had yet to catch up and all she managed to do was stare at him in disbelief, opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish.

"It seems I've finally found a way to silence you." Hao smirked, stepping away from her fully, "Don't try to leave again." And then without another word he vanished in a fiery blaze, leaving the water shaman alone to quite literally fall over in shock, while her eyes swirled into a strange vibrant pink.

Nindie sighed. She was right before, it didn't seem that Hao was going to let them go anytime soon.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Woo okay this is the last update I'm going to do tonight because quite frankly I need my beauty sleep XP. For anyone new reading this you should probably know that I'm rewriting and editing my earlier chapters to fix the little mistakes and generally write it better lol. So yeah, if anything doesn't quite match up to what you've read so far I will be fixing that, though don't worry, I won't be doing anything drastic like changing the plot =]**

**Anywho, please review! =D**


	5. C5 busting out

Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .

Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.

**Chapter 5- Busting Out **

Shinji had been frozen to the same spot where Hao had left her for almost an hour now, and nothing Nindie did seemed to rouse a response out of her. She just sat there, staring blankly at the wall with a look of confusion and surprise. The ghost girl was seriously starting to worry about her friend's mental health.

"Shiiiinji..." She called once again, waving a transparent hand in front of Shinji's face and debating whether she should try beating some sense into her. Just as she had started forming the ball of water to throw at the shaman, Shinji suddenly leapt to her feet.

Nindie jumped, and gave her friend a cautious look, "You okay?"

"We've got to get out of here." Shinji replied, ignoring her question and moving towards the entrance. She stopped to study the barrier shimmering across the only visible exit to the outside world, while Nindie watched on curiously. Stretching out her hand towards it, Shinji tested its strength, feeling for the amount of power put into it without actually touching the barrier itself. It was as she had expected, there was no way she could break it so easily this time. Hao had strengthened it so much that it would take hours to break, and as soon as she started working on bringing it down he would know what she was doing.

"You know he'll only follow us and try to bring us back." Nindie said, glad her friend was finally doing something but nervous of where her current actions might land them. If Shinji got into another fight with Hao, Nindie wasn't so sure he would heal her again if things started going badly. "We won't be able to get very far."

"We will if he doesn't know we're gone." Shinji countered, moving away from the entrance and running her hands across the cave wall, silently looking for a gap in the defences.

"What are you doing?" Nindie asked, watching as her friend moved around to the back of the cave and stopping.

"Finding a way out." Shinji answered, "Now don't talk, I'm trying to concentrate." She felt around the wall and put her ear up against it, closing her eyes and listening for the quite hum of energy that would tell her if the barrier surrounded the place or not. It was silent. A small smile creased the corner of her lips as she pulled away from the wall. She glanced over at Nindie, her eyes glowing a strange greenish brown.

"You might want to keep back." she said.

"I'm dead, what could you possible do to hurt me?"

"...Point taken." she laughed, turning back around and placing her hand against the rock as they glowed a dark moss green. The whole cave began to tremble, the walls groaning with tension and dust falling down from the ceiling. Slowly the rocks moved around her hand, emptying the way and forming a tunnel leading to the outside world. As the glowing receded and her eyes changed back to their original watery blue, she swayed slightly on her feet, and grabbed at the wall to steady herself. Nindie was at her side in a second.

"Are you okay?" she said anxiously. She was pretty sure Hao would have noticed the hole if the noise hadn't already called his attention. And if he hadn't yet he would soon.

"Don't worry; I couldn't sense a barrier so he won't know we're gone until he comes here next. The only barrier was at the entrance. Heh, pretty dumb huh?" Shinji laughed weakly, feeling a little dizzy for her efforts.

"You should have rested up a little more before pulling a stunt like that. You know that using other elements takes up more mana, not only that but you still haven't fully recovered from ..."

"Shut up! There is no way I'm staying anywhere near that bastard...besides I'm fine." Shinji snapped, turning away in irritation. She wasn't annoyed at Nindie, but her confusion of everything that had been happening was making her agitated. She wanted nothing more than to get away and put this whole ordeal behind her. As she moved to pick up her bag from where she had previously been sitting she noticed something in the corner of the room, and an evil grin spread across her face. It was Hao's poncho. She stared at the thing for a moment, and then slowly walked over to pick it up. She knew she shouldn't, it would only provoke Hao further when he finally realized they were gone, but it would definitely be worth it. Before her mind had fully agreed to it, a fire ball was summoned into existence in her palm, and she caught the material alight before dropping it onto the floor with a satisfied smirk, watching the flames eat away slowly at Hao's poncho.

Nindie frowned, "You probably shouldn't have done that."

"Probably not, but that's what he gets for violating my mouth." Shinji replied, pulling a face at the memory. Nindie rolled her eyes, but even she couldn't resist a small smile. It seemed that Shinji was finally her usual self.

"Well then, I suppose we should get out of here before he sees it." Nindie suggested, "Although you do realize that if we travel the usual way he'll probably see us leaving? My S.O.R (spirit of rain) form isn't exactly very inconspicuous."

"I've already thought that part through," Shinji replied with a grin, "Come on."

The two girls finally made their escape through the tunnel, Shinji stumbling a little over some of the loose rocks, and Nindie floating along beside her, cautiously keeping her guard up and looking around for any signs of pursuit.

When they eventually made it out Shinji had to shield her eyes from the sunlight that nearly blinded her. It had been a while since they had seen daylight from more than just a small cave entrance, and she hadn't quite been prepared for the brightness. As her vision slowly cleared she looked around at her surroundings. The tunnel had led them through to the outside of a mountain with a peak lightly dusted with snow that reached high into the sky, surrounded by a dense forest that sloped down a hill and seemed to go on for miles. Somehow the area seemed familiar to her, and as she turned to Nindie to ask she found that the ghost girl had a similar thoughtful look of recognition on her face.

"We're in Hokkaido." Nindie said, catching her eye, "He took us a lot further from Tokyo than I expected."

Shinji nodded in understanding, and pulled an extra hoodie out of her bag and threw it over her head to fight off the cold breeze. Hokkaido may have been pretty far from Tokyo where the Shaman fights were being held, but it wouldn't take Hao very long to get there with his teleporting if he needed to, and he wouldn't have to stay in the city full of humans. No doubt he was nearby somewhere and appreciating the silence the natural surroundings would give him. Still, at least the trees would provide them good cover, and with any luck he would be on the opposite side of the mountain anyway.

"So now what?" Nindie asked, pulling the water shaman away from her thoughts.

Shinji grinned in response. "We're going to hitch a ride."

Nindie shot her a confused look, but she chose to ignore it, and instead turned towards the forest.

"Kekki!" she called out into the wilderness, and Nindie smiled as she realized exactly who she was calling.

From beneath the shadow of the trees a dark shape slowly took form, stealthily moving towards them and silencing the land with its very presence. Even the wind itself seemed to hide from the darkness creeping towards them and gradually taking shape. Neither girl were afraid as it stopped only a few feet away and took on the shape of a large black dog, easily a head taller than Shinji when stood on all four legs. Its thick dark fur was matted with moss and leaves, as if the forest itself was growing out of its body, and its eyes shone a brilliant jade. It sat in front of them for a moment, silently studying the two girls and tasting the emotions on the air. There was a sense of anxiousness around them, but it wasn't directed at him.

"It has been a while, mistress Shinji, Nindie." He growled, his voice low and gravelly like rocks, "What have you summoned me for?"

"Kekki, we're in a bit of a hurry and we need to travel discreetly. Would you mind giving us a lift?" Shinji asked with a somewhat cheeky grin.

Kekki laughed, and flashed the shaman a wolfish smile, "Of course mistress."

As Kekki lowered himself to the ground, Shinji scrambled up on his back, submerging her hands into his thick fur to hold on. A second later he shot off into the forest, travelling at such a speed that their surroundings flew past them with a blur that if Shinji looked at for too long would make her sick.

"Where to mistress?" Kekki asked in mid jump, leaping over a wide river as if it was nothing more than a puddle on the ground.

"Um, just keep going as far as you can, I want to put as much distance as I can between us and that cave."

He glanced over at Nindie who was keeping pace beside him, a questioning look in his gaze.

"She's just a little shaken up right now, don't worry."She whispered to him, and then spoke aloud for Shinji to hear, "Do you want to go to the waterfall, Shinji? If I'm right we can get there just before night fall."

"Yeah," Shinji said, "that sounds like a good idea, let's go there."

Kekki nodded, and then quickly changed course before catching Nindie's attention again.

"I can taste her fear, even if she is doing well to conceal it. This may not be any of my business but what has happened to shake mistress Shinji so badly?" he murmured to her, being careful not to speak loud enough for Shinji to hear.

Nindie debated in her head if she should tell him or not. She doubted that he would buy the whole 'kidnapped' excuse, because he knew that wouldn't be enough to truly scare Shinji, but at the same time Shinji may not want people to know about the whole kiss thing. When she thought about it like that it made her want to laugh. Kidnapping the shaman could deal with, but kiss her and she freaks out. The whole thing sounded ridiculous. Of course if anyone else had done it Shinji would have probably just punched them, but this was Hao, her one and only enemy. It was definitely something to get a little weirder out by. Nindie wondered if Kekki would see it that way.

"Hao Asakura...kissed her." The ghost girl mumbled, but Kekki's sharp ears heard it.

"WHAT!?" He yelled aloud before he could stop himself, and Nindie glared at him. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tell him after all.

"Nindie, what did you tell him?" Shinji frowned.

"Nothing..."

"Liar." She muttered, but she didn't press on the subject, and an awkward silence followed before Kekki spoke again, more quietly this time.

"Why would he do that? I thought he hated her after she helped kill him 500 years ago."He asked, unable to resist his curiosity.

"That what we thought too. After all he trapped us in a cave, and almost killed her a few days ago." Nindie answered, shooting a weary glance over at Shinji to see if she was paying any attention to them. She wasn't.

"But he didn't."

"What?"

"He didn't kill her." Kekki repeated.

"Obviously not." Nindie replied, not quite sure what he was getting at.

"Well then, there may be more to this than what it seems."

Nindie thought for a moment, but said nothing in response. She wasn't sure that she would like whatever more to it there may be, especially when Hao Asakura was involved.


	6. C6 Just The Beginning

Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .

Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.

**Chapter 6 - Just the Beginning**

Shinji sighed in relief as Kekki slowed his pace to a stop and the sound of rushing water filled the air, her limbs relaxing as the tension fell away from her body. Riding on the back of a giant dog for hours was enough to make anyone a little stiff, but it wasn't so much the ride than the mental strain that had weakened her. The moonlight was just a sliver of light in the sky, hidden behind a thick expanse of dark heavy cloud that shrouded the world in black, but the sound of the thundering falls soothed her, even if her eyes couldn't really see it. Clumsily she slid off the dogs back and landed with weak legs onto the muddy ground.

"Are you alright, Mistress?" Kekki asked, concern filling his gravelly voice.

Shinji nodded, "My legs are a bit numb, that's all." She replied with a small laugh, trying to rub the tingly feeling out of her legs.

Kekki wasn't quite convinced, but didn't comment on it, and watched silently as the girl noisily stumbled through the undergrowth, unknowingly chasing away the smaller creatures that made the shrubbery their homes. A mouse almost dashed straight into one of his massive paws, and for a moment he thought of snapping it up in his powerful jaws as a light snack, but then a splash caught his attention ahead, and a loud yelp from Shinji startled the sleeping birds from their nests.

"Holy shit! It's freezing!" The shaman cried, hugging her arms and shivering from the cold lake water that she had unwittingly fallen into. If her legs were numb before, they were positively dead now that the bitter liquid pooled around her knees and soaked into her jeans.

"No it isn't," Nindie replied, holding back a laugh as her ghostly body passed harmlessly through the water, "It's like swimming in a giant hot tub!"

"Right, right, warm thoughts." Shinji murmured, "This water is warm, this water is warm, this water is warm." And through sheer will power she soothed her stiff body into relaxation, and walked further into the lake. If this was a thousand years earlier she probably would have worried about hypothermia, but she had learned long ago how to nullify herself to the effects of the cold when she needed to; it was just one of the things that were required to become a good water shaman, the elements themselves were at her disposal.

For a while she floated on her back, her hair spread out around her head like a snowy fan on the blackened surface until her soaked jeans weighed her down and she sunk slightly under the water. She fumbled for a moment with the button, and then kicked them off and tossed the useless bundle of material onto the nearby bank, freeing her legs of the pressure and smiling in satisfaction to herself. Nindie floated over soon after with a pair of lightweight grey shorts, and for the sake of her friends modesty, wordlessly threw them at the swimming girl. Shinji frowned as she peeled the material off of her face but, with a silent glare from Nindie, rolled her eyes and slipped on the shorts.

Kekki watched from the bank as Nindie floated back beside him, and Shinji dived into the water and swam around underneath for several minutes.

"She's been under there for a long time." He pointed out, praying silently that the girl would resurface and that he wouldn't have to dive in and rescue her. The water absolutely terrified him, and he wasn't sure that even the safety of his mistress would be enough for him to set foot in the liquid death.

Nindie nodded, "She won't drown though. I don't think she could even if she tried anymore."

As if on cue Shinji burst up out of the water, her happy laughter echoing out over the lake.Nindie smiled. It was a relief to see her friend acting so carefree after everything that had happened in the last few days. The thought of Hao set her face into a harsh frown without her even realizing it. She hated that she had played a part in his stupid game, forcing Shinji out of the tournament they had been preparing for the last five hundred years. It was frustrating. Tournaments like this didn't come around every day, and she was certain they would have had a good shot at winning if it wasn't for that asshole. Now what would they do? She knew Shinji, living the normal mundane life of a regular person would never be enough for her. She needed action, practically craved some form of excitement, so living the rest of the time she had in her new body getting a job, or maybe finding love and getting married would be out of the question. If it was something she was willing to do she would have done it long ago during one of her other lives. Of course, all of this was irrelevant if Hao decided to hunt them down and kill her, which was probably the more likely outcome if she was to be honest at this stage. Still, he hadn't killed Shinji yet, and as confusing as that was, Nindie hoped that still wasn't something he was planning to do.

"It's been ten minutes now, mistress Shinji truly is remarkable sometimes." Kekki commented, and Nindie realised that in the time she had hidden herself away with her thoughts Shinji had sunk back down under the water, no doubt attempting to regain the mana she lost when breaking out of the cave. She was about to answer the big dog when she noticed his ears prick up at a sound, and his head turned sharply to the left.

"What is it?" Nindie asked, following his gaze, and then she saw it for herself. Fire. A huge burning mass glowing with a blazing rage on the side of the mountain that they could see even as far away as they were. The small figure of the spirit of fire in the distance tilted his head back and roared into the night, and even though she couldn't hear it, kekki's ears pressed back against his head at the sound.

Without another seconds hesitation she dove into the water in search of her friend, quickly finding the girl sat at the bottom of lake, right beneath the waterfall where the rushing water bubbled around her, her eyes blissfully closed to the outside.

"Shinji!" Nindie called desperately through the water as only a spirit could do, and the shaman's eyes shot open, almost glowing blue under the water. "Hao knows we're gone, he's coming after you Shinji. We have to go, now!"

Shinji frowned slightly, and thought for a moment, before shrugging and shaking her head. Nindie knew what she meant. There was no point. If Hao knew they had gone, he probably knew where they were, and if they went now and somehow out ran him, they would only be prolonging the inevitable conflict. They might have broken out to escape him, but Shinji's pride wouldn't allow her to let herself be chased around the world until she was cornered, even if it meant her death. Nindie glared at her friend in frustration, and then turned and flew back to kekki, who waited anxiously as close to the bank as he dared.

"He's close, I can feel it." He growled, digging his claws into the dirt.

"She won't go," Nindie explained, "she's being stubborn."

"Then I will stay too, I may not be of much use but I will do whatever I can to help." Kekki replied loyally, but Nindie shook her head.

"No, Shinji wouldn't want to drag you into her problems."

"But-"

"Please, Kekki. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if you got hurt."

He grumbled in annoyance, but submitted reluctantly, "As you wish, I will hide in the shadows like a useless pup, but I will not abandon mistress Shinji. If she needs me, I will come to her."

Nindie thanked him in relief, and he slowly stepped backwards and allowed his body to be consumed by the shadows until he had completely vanished from view. The ghost girl turned her attention back to the lake, and instantly knew that something was very wrong.

Deep beneath the water's surface, Hao stood before Shinji, glaring fiercely at the girl sat calmly at his feet. Her eyes were closed, and she hadn't even stirred as he had appeared in front of her, but he knew that she had realized he was there because in her mind gave away her irritation.

'_Go away.' _She thought at him, and it wasn't till he grabbed her wrist and hauled her to her feet that she bothered to open her eyes to glare at him. _'let go.'_ His only response was to try and burn her wrist, which only made her laugh, and a stream of bubbles rose to the surface. _'Are you an idiot? We're underwater, that isn't really going to work here.' _Hao smirked at her and let go of her wrist, but less than a second later the spirit of fire appeared somewhere above them, and plucked Shinji out of the water with one hand, and lifted Hao out with the other and onto his shoulder.

"It works fine up here though, doesn't it?" He said cockily, answering her previous though.

"Jackass." Shinji spat, feeling uncomfortably warm in the spirit of fires tight fist, her clothes already drying and small beads of sweat dotting her forehead.

"Shinji!" Nindie cried, rushing across the lake towards them.

"I wouldn't do anything stupid if I were you Nindie, it would be so easy for the spirit of fire to crush her." Hao remarked casually, as if commenting on the weather, but it had the desired effect, and Nindie stopped dead in her tracks, with a horrified look on her face.

Shinji rolled her eyes, "Oh please, Hao we both know you aren't going to kill me, so drop the dramatics and tell me what you want already."

"And what makes you think I want anything from you?" He asked, and the spirit of fire gave her a painful squeeze for emphasis, "You did kill, and it would be so simple to destroy your soul now and be done with you for good. After all, you might try to kill me again."

"Ha, don't flatter yourself," She gasped, "the only reason I helped kill you the last time was because you were a threat to me becoming shaman king, and now I'm out of the tournament. Besides, if you wanted me dead you would have finished me off days ago, so either tell me what you want or go away."

Hao smiled arrogantly and waved the spirit of fire away, and in an instant it vanished. They both fell towards the ground, Hao stopping himself before hitting the hard earth and gently floating the rest of the way down, while Shinji flipped herself away from him, and landed in a crouch right at the water's edge. Slowly, she straightened up, and casually folded her arms across her chest, leaning her weight to one side. Hao watched with a smirk across his lips, and for a moment a silence held between them, while Nindie watched tensely from the sidelines.

"I want you to join me." He said finally.

Shinji paused, unsure she had heard him right, "Are you kidding? Why the hell would I join you?"

"Because I will let you live."

"I think I'll pass. Death doesn't bother me, and I don't have much use for this body now that I'm out of the tournament anyway." She replied.

He moved towards her then, "You will change your mind."

She frowned, "What makes you think that?"

Hao smiled secretly, stopping in front of her and, reaching forward, curled a strand of her hair between his fingers, looking down at the snow coloured strand with curiosity. "Because I have the one thing you crave." He muttered.

"Oh? And what's that?" She asked, willing herself not to be intimidated by the closeness of their bodies or his grasp on her hair.

He leaned forward slowly, till his lips were a breath away from her ear and whispered: "Excitement."

Shinji glared, and went to shove him away but as her hands neared his chest he released her hair and easily leapt away from her with a laugh. "I'll be back." He said, and without another word, he vanished in a ring of fire.

Nindie rushed over to her as soon as he was gone, checking to see if she was alright, but Shinji just stared at the charred circle of soil where Hao had disappeared and frowned darkly to herself. She had expected him to leave her alone once he knew she had no interest in opposing him now that she had been disqualified from the shaman tournament, but apparently that was just the beginning.

"Well this sucks."


	7. C7 Sleep

Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .

Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.

**Chapter 7 - Sleep**

Kekki shot through the undergrowth, speeding towards the horizon that was slowly turning a pale pink with the sunrise. Shinji could feel her eyes drifting with exhaustion, and if it wasn't for the concentration she needed to keep the tight grip on the big dog's fur as he carried her towards the daylight, she would have been asleep hours ago. Even so, Nindie was constantly nudging the girl to keep her awake. Almost as soon as Hao had left Shinji slipped her damp jeans on over her shorts, flung her rucksack over her shoulder and announced that they were leaving. Kekki was all too ready to follow suit, slipping out of the shadows and offering to carry the girl to the nearest town, which was still too far away for a normal person to walk. Shinji agreed. The faster they got out of there the better, because after her talk with Hao there was no way she could relax there any longer. Her mind was buzzing with a thousand thoughts, and she just wanted to be on the move.

"The town is not far from here, mistress Shinji." Kekki said, feeling the girls hands loosen slightly as she started to drift off again, "the cliff is just up ahead."

Shinji nodded mutely against the back of his neck and yawned slightly, unwittingly catching a bug and almost choking to death. Nindie burst out laughing at her friends wide watery eyes and shocked face. She was definitely awake now.

Less than ten minutes later Kekki slowed to a stop at the edge of a clearing, and Shinji slipped off of his back, landing flat on her butt and groaning at the impact.

"How is it the only time you're not a total klutz is when you're fighting? It just doesn't make sense." Nindie pointed out in amusement as her friend pulled herself to her feet.

"Shut up, I'm tired." Shinji grumbled back, rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hand.

"I'm afraid this is as far as I can go. Humans don't react too well when they see my kind."Kekki said, solemnly looking out over the town down below, glowing slightly with the few streetlamps still on in the early morning.

"That's probably because you always look like your eyeing them up for dinner." Shinji said with a small smile, and Kekki flashed her a large sharp toothed grin in agreement. "Anyway, Thanks. You know, for your help and all."

"Always a pleasure, Mistress Shinji." He replied, "If you ever need me do not hesitate to call."

"Definitely. Thanks again."

Kekki nodded, and then silently turned away and fell back into the dark shadows of the woods, vanishing once again from sight.

Shinji laughed slightly to herself, and then turned her attention to the Cliffside and the town slowly waking up below. A small smirk played across her lips and a mischievous glint sparkled in her eye as she took a step towards the edge.

"Don't you dare." Nindie snapped, knowing exactly what that look meant and not liking it one bit.

Shinji blinked at her, feigning innocence, "Why Nindie, whatever do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean, and I'm telling you don't do it."

"Oh, you mean this?" she said, and then casually stepped over the edge before the ghost girl could stop her. She plummeted to the ground at an alarming speed, the wind whipping at her face and sending her hair shooting wildly around her head. At the last possible second before she hit the ground in what would have been a crumpled bloody mess, the air surrounded her in a warm circle and held her afloat for a moment, before gently depositing her onto the ground. A brief feeling of overexertion came to her, like lifting a strenuously heavy object her body protested at the use of a different element, but a moment later the feeling was gone and she stood straight. Shinji found herself laughing as Nindie appeared beside her, shooting the girl daggers and huffing in irritation.

"You know I really wish you would stop doing that," She complained, "It scares the hell out of me every time."

Shinji grinned at her, and shifted her bag more securely on her shoulders as she started to walk towards the town, "Relax, I'm still alive aren't I?"

"This time." The spirit muttered, and begrudgingly followed after her shaman.

It took them about an hour to find a hotel, and by that time the town was already springing to life around them as the early risers prepared their market stalls for the day, and the smell of freshly baked bread wafted through the streets. It was enticing, but at that moment all Shinji wanted was the comforts of a nice warm bed and the gentle lull of sleep. With these thoughts in mind she stepped through the large glass doors of the hotel and into the warm lobby, surprisingly full of people for such an early time of day.

Almost instantly a sudden hush filter through the room, and several heads turn her way. She frowned in confusion, but then she caught the sight of herself in one of the many mirrors hanging around the room and sighed bitterly. From top to bottom, she was covered in a thin layer of grim that had clung to her skin even after her dip in the lake. Her hair was matted and greasy, wild and tangled into such a state of disarray that she winced slightly, knowing how painful it would be when she tried to brush them out later. The clothes she wore were not much better, still damp, and smeared with mud and moss from travelling on Kekki's back through the forest. From the crinkling nose of a woman not too far away who was glaring at her, she guess she also smelt a little too much like a wet dog for this woman's liking.

"What's her problem?" Nindie cried, glaring daggers at the human woman that, unfortunately, couldn't see the angry spirit. Shinji shot the woman a piercing glance. These snooty rich people may have judged her appearance, but she would prove that she was better than their lowly gossiping and snobbery. Lifting her head high she strode through across the room with all the superior grace of a jungle cat, ignoring the stares of the many people around the room. But then her feet, as though moving in a different rhythm to the rest of her body, tripped over one another and she stumbled awkwardly to the floor. No one moved to help. Cursing her own clumsiness and flushing mildly with embarrassment she carefully picked herself up and made her way to the front desk.

A pretty young woman with curly red hair and a light freckling across her nose stared openly, her bright green eyes wide with curiosity. Shinji lay her arms carefully across the desk, a light smile crossing her face.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I would like to occupy one of your rooms for the week." She stated calmly.

For a moment there was no response from the woman, but then she shook herself out of her stupor and returned Shinji's smile.

"O-of course! Wha-" the woman began, but her eyes noticed something over Shinji's shoulder and she fell silent, a slight fearful expression crossing her face.

Confused, Shinji turned and instantly located the source of the red head's nervousness. The woman she had glared at earlier was striding towards them, a furious look set in her eyes. It was then that she noticed the badge clipped to the woman's chest with the word 'MANAGER' written in thick bold lettering. She resisted the urge to groan aloud. Dealing with a snobby self-important manager was not something she wanted to be doing right now. It wasn't difficult to assess the woman; her fine black suit, sensible yet elegant shoes, and recently dyed black hair that was pulled back into a tight bun were proof enough of her no-nonsense and proud demeanour. No doubt she had worked hard to earn her job, and had been working for the higher class and basked in their luxuries long enough to despise anyone who did not immediately show wealth. The woman stopped a foot away, and looked down her long nose at Shinji, the skin across her weathered forehead deepening into a harsh frown and her nose, once again, crinkling in disgust.

"There is no room here for someone of your class. I must ask you to leave at once." She said sternly.

Shinji resisted the urge to hurl some rather colourful abuse at the manager, and instead smiled humourlessly at the woman. "Oh, and what class might that be?" She challenged, trying to keep herself as calm as possible so that her eyes didn't bleed into red.

The woman's lips twisted into a sneer, "I believe your attire is enough to explain what class you belong to."

"What a bitch!" Nindie cried in outrage, "say something to her Shinji, tell her to pull that frosty stick out of her ass and-"

Shinji ignored the rest of Nindie's rant. She should have been insulted by the managers rudeness, but instead she only felt amused. This idiot clearly had no idea who she was dealing with, and although Shinji didn't normally like to pull the family money card, this seemed like one of those times when she would enjoy it. Without a word she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a golden card with the insignia of a bird in flight. The woman's eyes widened in surprise at the sight and her face paled considerably.

"Then I suppose this means nothing to you?" Shinji asked, knowing full well from the look on the manager's face that the card was having the desired effect.

The woman stuttered nervously, "W-where did you get that?"

"That is none of your concern." She replied, pulling the card out of sight and slipping it back into her pocket. "Now, are you going to let me have a room or not?"

The young red haired woman could hardly contain her laughter as she led Shinji down the corridor to her room, and Nindie floated behind them with a satisfied smirk on her face.

"That was brilliant," she giggled, "I've never seen Mrs Yukiko look so humiliated. It's about time someone showed her, the snooty cow!"

Shinji smiled, and the young woman's eyes widened at the realization of what she had said.

"Oh I'm so sorry; I shouldn't have been so rude."

Shinji laughed and shook her head, "It's all right. Personally I'd have called her several things way worse than that, and hopefully now she'll quit being so stuck up."

A loud laugh was her reply, and then the two stopped outside a door marked 'PLATINUM SUIT' in fine gold writing, and the red-head turned to her smiling brightly as she handed Shinji the key card for the door.

"Well here's your room, if you need anything just ask."

"Um... actually there is one thing," Shinji paused and shrugged her bad off her shoulders before rummaging through and pulling out an armful of clothing. "If you don't mind could you have these washed for me?"

"Sure thing miss..."

"Shinji." she replied with a smile, handing her the pile.

"Shinji? Well nice to meet ya'. I'm Miaka. I'll have these all washed for you as soon as possible."

"Thanks a lot."

"Is there anything else you need while I'm here?" Miaka asked, but Shinji shook her head.

"No, that's everything thanks."

"Alright, well I'll be back in a few hours with-" She held up the bag.

"Awesome. Thanks again, Miaka."

Shinji watched briefly as the red headed girl nodded and walked back the way she came, but then she rubbed her tired eyes and slipped inside the room. The first thing she thought was that it was way too big, and the bed was too far away, but then after the stupid managers arrogance she had insisted on the best room available, and apparently the best meant the biggest. Still, she was amazed she had made it at all as she fell limply onto the bed and inhaled the soothing scent of fresh sheets. Nindie shut the door somewhere behind her, and then pushed the water shaman further onto the bed so that her feet didn't hang off the edge, throwing a blanket over her head.

"Go to sleep, I'll keep watch." The water spirit said, killing the lights and surrounding them in a welcoming darkness, the sunlight kept at bay by thick, heavy curtains.

Shinji tried not to think about what, or who Nindie was keeping watch for, and drifted off into a dreamless slumber.

She awoke several hours later, her face buried into her pillow as she tried to block out the sound of raised voices in her room.

"Get out, you aren't welcome here."

"And what? You're going to make me?"

"Yes actually, I will, now get the hell out!"

Shinji groaned in annoyance. Why couldn't people just shut up and let her sleep? She was exhausted and really not in the mood to be dealing with this kind of crap. How did they get in anyway? She was fairly certain the door was locked, and although her groggy brain was almost certain one of the voices belonged to Nindie, that really didn't explain the other. Reluctantly she sat up, and realized that the curtains were still drawn and the room still covered in darkness. She grasped at the vague memory of a lamp on the bedside table, and rolled over, fumbling around with her hands on the wooden surface trying to find it.

"To your left." The voice that wasn't Nindie said, and Shinji blindly followed the instruction and eventually managed to hit the switch. The limp lamp light wasn't much to see by, but it was enough to make her groan and cover her eyes for a moment. Honestly, all she wanted to do was sleep. When her foggy brain worked long enough for her to figure out what was going on she was going to murder the people involved.

Someone laughed at her, and she glared behind her hands. "Go away." She grumbled.

"Good morning to you too." He said, because by this point it was obvious that it was a he. And then it clicked somewhere in her brain, and she pulled her hands away from her face and glared darkly at the smug face of Hao. Murder was definitely starting to seem like a very likely option.

"Can't you leave me alone for five minutes?" She snapped, and rolled back onto her stomach to bury her face in the pillow as if her problems would just go away if she couldn't see them. Or it.

"It's been twelve hours."

Shinji glanced over at Nindie, who was still glaring fiercely at Hao, "Has it really?"

Nindie nodded, still not taking her eyes off Hao. As far as she was concerned he was a threat, and even if Shinji was enough at ease to turn her back to him, Nindie wasn't going to trust him for a second. "Sounds about right, you've been asleep for about five hours. It's almost midday now."

"I feel like I'm turning nocturnal." Shinji yawned, "So what do you want, Hao?"

"Nothing really, just seeing if you've decided on my offer yet." He replied, casually moving over and sitting cross legged on the bed.

"I already told you no."

"But that wasn't the answer I want."

"Well then prepare to be disappointed, it's still no, and that isn't going to change." She replied stubbornly.

A knock on the door cut the conversation short, and Shinji glanced over at it briefly. She didn't move to answer it. Somehow she thought now was not the best of times for other company, so she chose to ignore it.

"Um hello?" A voice called from the other side of the door, "It's Miaka, I brought your bag back for you, and your clothes have been washed."

Shinji frowned slightly, and realized she had fallen asleep in her dirty clothes. She hadn't even bothered to kick off her shoes before she collapsed onto the bed. The thought made her cringe, and suddenly she felt really disgusting. A quick glance in the mirror across the room confirmed it, she looked as gross as she felt, and to make matters worse her hair had turned into a birds nest while she slept. All of a sudden she was desperate for the contents of her bag. She scooched her way to the end of the bed and perched herself on the edge.

"Come in." She called, but not before shooting a warning glance to Hao, who decided to lean back on the bed with his hands behind his head.

'Behave.' She thought to him just as Miaka opened the door and beamed at her.

"Hello!" She chirped, "Sorry to intrude, I uh, didn't realize you had company."

"Well she does, so you can leave now." Hao said, and Miaka's face dropped slightly.

"Ignore him," Shinji said, walking over to the woman and retrieving her bag, "Thanks for this."

"Oh, oh it was no trouble!" The red headed woman beamed happily, bouncing back from Hao's comment remarkably quickly, "I'll uh, leave you two alone now." She continued, winking at Shinji and slipping back out the door with a hearty wave.

Shinji stared at the closed door in silence for a moment, and then she turned to Nindie with a confused look on her face. "Why did she just wink at me?"

Nindie frowned, but it was Hao who answered with a smug smirk spread across his lips, "She thinks that you and I are lovers."

It took a moment for Shinji to fully piece together his words and what had just happened, but when she did her face flared up a bright pink that matched her colour changing eyes. Of course he was right, he was practically draped across her bed. A guy and a girl alone together in a hotel room was practically an invitation to a misunderstanding, and Shinji cursed herself mentally in her embarrassment for not expecting this, because clearly Hao had, and he was finding the situation extremely amusing.

"I think I might just vomit." She said finally, satisfied when Hao's smirk was neatly wiped from his face. Without another word she flung the bag over her shoulder and moved across the room to the bathroom door. She stopped momentarily before entering, and although she had originally decided that she wasn't going to say anything else to him, she turned back with a frown. "I'm having a shower. I would appreciate it if you were gone by the time I get out." She said, speaking in a tone that implied more than a simple suggestion.

Hao simply smiled at her, pretending that he hadn't heard the venom in her voice or the aggressive murmurs of her mind, "I'll be right here."

Shinji sighed bitterly, mumbling insults under her breath as she slammed the bathroom door behind her. Even through the thick oak she could hear his quiet laughter, and it irritated her to no end. She locked the door for good measure, but realised that a thin bar of metal would not keep Hao out if he truly wanted to get in.

Instead of wasting time worrying about it she slipped off her filthy clothes, abandoning them in a messy heap on the floor, and stepped into the ridiculously large shower. It took a moment for her to work out the different dials, but soon after she felt her body relax as the hot water coursed over skin. She stood under the spray unmoving as the water worked the tension out of her limbs, and waited until the brown muddy liquid running down the drain turned clear and untainted before she attempted to wash her hair. The first thing she did was pour half a bottle's worth of conditioner onto her head, and slowly ease the tangled mess of knots out of her hair. In a weird way it was soothing to focus on the task at hand and momentarily forget about the problem waiting for her in the other room, but then as she remembered she frowned, and decided that another three coats of both shampoo and conditioner were very much needed. Eventually her hair was as clean as it was ever going to get, and probably cleaner than it had possibly ever been in her life, she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off with a quick blast of hot air. Just as before, her body protested at the use of an element that wasn't water, but it passed quickly, not enough to bother her for long. Still, it was definitely something she was going to work on, Hao had gotten better in the last five hundred years, and she needed to catch up. Once again the thought of Hao made her frown. Apparently even the soothing shower hadn't been enough to fend off her irritation. Maybe if she stayed in the bathroom long enough he would give up and go away. The outright laughter from the other room made it clear that she wasn't going to get away with that one, still, it didn't mean she couldn't try. She took her sweet time getting dressed, and spent the good part of ten minutes brushing her teeth just to spite him. Finally, after tying her hair back into a manageable braid she took a deep calming breath and slid open the door, only to be greeted by a face leaning down only inches away from her own. She stumbled back in surprise, eyes wide and flicking back to pink, and then slipped in a puddle. Shinji felt herself falling backwards and flung her arms out behind her in the attempt lessen the impact, but Hao moved faster and swiftly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her harder than necessary back up so that she practically crashed into him. She stood there stunned for a moment, face planted firmly against Hao's chest. He laughed slightly, and she felt it vibrate through her lips, and then he leaned down and breathed against her ear.

"You know, your hair smells like cinnamon. I like it."

It was enough to snap her out of her stupor, and she hastily shoved him away from her.

"You- y- y- you..." Shinji stammered helplessly, mortified that she couldn't get her words out in her embarrassment, she could already feel the heat flooding up her neck and into her cheeks.

Nindie floated over and glared at Hao disapprovingly.

"Great, you've broken her again." She grumbled.

Hao simply smirked, watching the water shaman stare at him with a look of horror on her face. This girl really was amusing with such a strange little weakness. It was clear that she wasn't good with intimacy, which for a thousand year old shaman was pretty weird. '_Perhaps she was raised by a group of nuns in her first life' _he thought to himself, and then wondered why he had even cared long enough to bother thinking about how she had grown up in the first place. Logically he should have just let her die back in the cave and been done with it, but it was always such a waste to let a strong shaman go, and she was one of the only people to have ever matched up to him. That was enough to keep her alive, especially now that she could no longer compete in the tournament. Besides, in a strange way she was rather entertaining.

"P-Pervert!" Shinji finally stuttered out, pointing an accusing finger at him. Hao's smirk grew, and Nindie sighed. This was getting a little ridiculous now. She wondered if smacking the girl over the head would be enough to fix her, it usually worked on the TV. "Will you just go away already," Shinji continued almost desperately, "I'm out of the tournament, so there's no reason for you to keep bugging me anymore."

"There is a reason." Hao replied.

"What?" Shinji snapped, annoyed again.

"It's entertaining." He replied honestly, and she almost smacked him for it. Instead she threw her arms up in the air in aggravation.

"I give up! I just give up! I'm going to bed." She cried, stomping past him and throwing back the covers to climb back into bed.

"You've only just woken up." Hao pointed out.

Shinji shot him a glare, and he was curious to find that her eyes were flickering red, as if she was trying and failing to control her emotions.

"I don't give a damn, I'm still tired thanks to you."

Hao smirked slightly at that, but she ignored him and pulled the sheets up to her neck, rolling to her side. "Nindie?" She asked, and the ghost girl helpfully switched off the lights, surrounding them in the blackness gratefully provided by the thick curtains that kept the midday sun out of the room.

Hao stood in silence for a moment, waiting for his eyes to adjust and he was confident enough to move across the room without bumping into anything. Silently he slipped around to the other side of the bed and slid under the covers beside her. He felt her tense as his arm brushed against her back, but instead of moving away he shuffled closer and draped an arm over her waist, leaning against her.

"What are you doing?" She muttered awkwardly, her eyes open in the dark.

"Sleeping, what does it look like?" Hao answered, getting more comfortable and resting his head over her own.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

She sighed in annoyance, but relaxed anyway. "You know I'm going to kill you when I wake up, right?"

"You can try." He scoffed.

A small smile came to her lips in her sleepy state, and she mumbled out a quiet 'good night' before falling quickly asleep. Hao remained awake for a short while, listening to her slow breathing and relishing in the quiet of her usually busy mind. He could still hear Nindie, questioning him in her head, questions he couldn't quite answer himself at the moment, but her dark, accusing gaze bothered him.

"Relax. I'm not going to do anything." He found himself reassuring her, and for now that seemed to be enough. She might not trust him, but she knew he wasn't a liar, so begrudgingly she disappeared out of the room and gave him some privacy. Not long after, Hao drifted off into his own peaceful slumber.


	8. C8 Passing Time

**Chapter 8 Passing Time**

By the time Shinji finally woke up it was already a full day after she had arrived at the hotel, and she felt as if her body had slept for a week. She wasn't sure what the time was as she blinked into the darkness of the room, and she was still a little too groggy from just waking up to really care. The grumbling complaints of her empty stomach was all that had really roused her in the first place, and she realized that she hadn't actually eaten properly in about a week. Still, although her stomach protested she couldn't find the strength to actually move. Her chest felt heavy, as if held down by some unseen weight, and she couldn't quite bring herself to pull away from the warm comforts of the bed or the pleasant heat at her back. Even her feet were warm, which was a welcoming change from the usual frozen lumps she had to live with. All in all she felt more content than she had in a long time, and if it wasn't for the hunger gnawing away at her insides she would have been happy to lie there forever. Eventually, she made the effort to at least sit up, and then she realized that the heavy weight in her chest was actually a physical one as it slid down onto her lap. She felt a hand grip at her waist and jumped slightly in shock, throwing the blankets off of her. As it turned out, the weight was an arm, which was attached to a body that happened to belong to-

"Good morning." Hao said, his face resting in the palm of his free hand as he looked up at her with a smirk. His chest was bare, and she realized with a start that it was his body against her back that had kept her warm. In an instant she threw herself away from him as if he burned, and then tumbled off the edge of the bed and into a heap on the floor, almost knocking herself out on the corner of the bedside table in the process.

"Oooooow my brain!" She complained, holding her hands to her forehead where a large angry lump was already beginning to form.

Hao leaned over the bed to laugh at her, "That was not my fault."

Shinji glared at him, "Why are you naked!"

"I'm not naked."

"Yes you are, you are so totally naked!" She screeched.

Hao frowned and rubbed at his temple with two fingers, "Will you quieten down, you're giving me a headache."

"I'm giving _you _a headache! I almost died! Look, look at this lump!" She cried, pulling her ands away and showing him the painful looking red welt on her temple.

"You exaggerate."

"No I don't, that thing tried to kill me!" Shinji argued, pointing an accusing finger at the bedside table.

"Well it couldn't exactly move out of the way as you threw yourself at it." He reasoned, and she simply glared at him. He sighed in irritation, and offered her a hand up, "Come here."

She eyed him suspiciously, "Why?"

Instead of bothering to reply he simply grabbed hold of her wrist and hauled her to her feet, pulling her back onto the bed despite her protest.

"Stay still." He ordered, holding her motionless in front of him by the vice grip on her wrists. She frowned at him, but begrudgingly did as he said. When he was certain that she wasn't going to move he let her go and reached a hand up to her forehead. She flinched away from the touch and went to complain at him, but the steeled look in his eyes stopped her before she could start, and the second time he touched the lump she was ready for the pain and grit her teeth to it. She was surprised however, to find that the pain was quickly receding as a warm tingling sensation fell from his fingertips. It didn't take long to realise that he was healing her, and she cast him a questioning look that he decided to ignore. Not put off, Shinji turned her attention to the healing process itself, studying the technique she was now fortunate enough to experience. Truth be told she had wanted to get a more firsthand look at how it was done ever since their previous battle, but she never would have asked for a demonstration, mostly because she thought it wasn't something he would teach to someone he liked, let alone a girl who only ever showed an interest in trying to kill him. Perhaps their relationship had evolved without her realizing it, from the enemies she had supposed them to be into something a little more complicated.

"Thanks." She muttered awkwardly when he drew his hand away and the pain had disappeared completely. Reaching up she delicately touched the smooth area of skin where the lump used to be, and was certain that if she checked in a mirror there wouldn't even be the slightest trace of a mark.

"You owe me now."

As easily as that the brief truce between them was over, and Shinji glared daggers at him.

"I'm not joining you."

"I didn't say that."

"Well it doesn't matter because I don't owe you anything anyway."

"How so?"

"You and I both know the only reason you did it was to shut me up. You did it for yourself, not for me." She replied sharply.

Hao simply smirked at that, "If that's what you want to believe."

"Well what other reason is there?"

"To make you owe me."

Shinji rolled her eyes and climbed off the bed, only to have a hand around her wrist stop her short of reaching her bag.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to get changed." She frowned and tried to pull away but he held fast, and then captured her gaze with his own for a long moment.

"Last chance." He said quietly, as if expecting someone to be listening in.

"Last chance for what?" Shinji asked, her confusion showing in the sliver of purple that appeared in her blue eyes.

"To join me." His tone was serious, unlike the smirks and smiles whenever he asked before. It was enough to put her guard up and she tensed.

"I've already told you, no." She replied firmly.

He smiled slightly, and let her wrist go without a word. Shinji eyed him suspiciously, but he looked surprisingly calm about it.

"Relax Shinji, I'm not going to attack you."

"This time."

He smirked at that, "This time."

Shinji frowned, but it was enough to convince her that she was safe for now, and without another word she slipped off into the bathroom to change. One clean pair of jeans and a pale blue vest top later Shinji remerged, tying her hair into a loose pony tail as she entered the room, only to find it surprisingly empty.

"Hao?" She called out cautiously, looking around the room in confusion. Surely it can't have been that easy to get rid of him, but then he hadn't replied.

"He's gone." Nindie said, appearing beside her.

"Gone?" Shinji questioned, and the ghost girl nodded.

"Said something about having to catch a plane? I dunno, once he said he was leaving I tuned him out a bit." She replied, floating away to sit in one of the chairs by the window.

"A plane?" Shinji asked, but Nindie didn't care to elaborate so Shinji didn't bother to ask any further. The main thing was that Hao was gone, and from the sounds of it he would be away for a long time, if not for good. She thought about that for a moment. Surely she should have felt glad that he wasn't around to bother her anymore, but now that he wasn't there Shinji found that she was finally left alone with the question of what to do now. The tournament was out of the question, so that meant she didn't have to train anymore, which was basically the only thing she really did until now, even if she had done it a little lazily.

Before she had any real time to mull over the situation however, there was a loud knocking at the door that pulled her away from her thoughts, and before she could even move to open it, it swung inwards, and the snooty manager from before was sneering at her with two rather large police men following behind her.

"This is the girl officers, the little thief." The manager said, pointing a long bony finger accusingly at her.

"Now Now ma'am, nothing has been proven yet." One of the officers said disapprovingly to her, though the other was looking at Shinji in a way that told her he already thought she was guilty of whatever crime this woman had imagined she had committed. After a long explanation from the nicer of the two cops, Shinji discovered that the manager had accused her of stealing the gold card she had used to pay for her room, apparently because a 'scruffy child' would have no other reason to posses such a thing. She was asked to go to the station with them for further questioning until the situation was resolved.

"Shouldn't you be at school anyway kid?" One cop asked, and Shinji had to hide her eyes behind a curtain of hair to keep him from seeing the deep red of her seething anger.

"I'm fifteen, and I'm home schooled." She answered through gritted teeth, and the oblivious cop laughed in embarrassment, and confessed that he thought she was only twelve, which only annoyed her further. Nindie laughed in her ear, finding the whole situation both amusing and annoying. Amusing because Shinji was almost constantly harassed for her babyish face and apparent young age, but annoyed because it was taking far too long to sort out this misunderstanding, and she had heard the manager gloating to someone on the phone about helping to catch a 'wanted criminal'. Several tedious days later her name was finally cleared thanks to one of her unknown relatives, who came in to assure that she was of the Lemora family, that she didn't steal the card, and that the family knew that she was there. The last part was clearly a lie, because although the man made no mention of the shaman tournament as they stepped out of the station, he told her that she would be expected back at the Lemora main house within the next few months to report. She agreed begrudgingly and they parted ways.

When Shinji returned to the hotel Miaka told her that the manager had been forced on leave by the higher ups in the hotel company for accusing a child of an important family of theft, and she wasn't sure when the old bat would return. Shinji couldn't help but feel a little smug about that, and decided she would stay at the hotel for a lot longer than the week she had originally planned just so that she would still be here to gloat when the horrible manager came back.

A month passed slowly without even the faintest of incident or even another encounter with Hao, and Shinji found herself getting more and more bored with each passing day, to the point where she almost wished Hao would come back just to give her something to do. She spent some of her days meeting up with Miaka when she had time off, and even though normally Shinji resented shopping, she gave in because at least it was something to do. When the Manager finally returned from her forced leave after two weeks Shinji and Nindie spent a lot of their time finding new and creative ways to annoy her, setting up animal traps to snare her feet as she walks by, or releasing mice in her office when she least expected it. The woman knew it was Shinji, but with the added bonus help of her ghost friend it was impossible for the manager to prove it, and she wouldn't risk her job by accusing the girl a second time. Still, even the occasional prank wasn't enough to take up all her time and most days were spent slouched in front of the TV, ordering room service and stuffing her face till her brain went numb and she felt like she could throw up from all the sugary food. Eventually Nindie put her foot down and ordered the shaman girl to go jogging. Shinji may not have needed to train anymore, but the ghost wasn't about to let her friend become completely lazy. At first Nindie went with her to make sure she actually ran and wasn't hiding out in a sweet shop somewhere, but eventually she let Shinji run alone and instead spent the time talking to the spirit of an old woman who followed around one of the unsuspecting hotel staff.

Shinji wiped the sweat from her brow as she stepped through the glass doors and back into the warm lobby of the hotel. She had run so far that her hoody practically suffocated her, and she peeled it away, unmindful of the hot scent of perspiration that sprang free from the confinement of the thick jumper. A few noses crinkled at the smell, but the long time residents of the hotel were used to Shinji and her runs, and many were familiar with the sharp glare they received if they chose to comment on it. Miaka hurried over to her, offering a hand towl and talking in a loud excited whisper.

"Your friend is here. The manager almost had a fit when she saw him but before she could tell him to go away I told her that he was your friend. Her face went so red she looked like a lobster! And then she just marched off in the opposite direction muttering about hippies and irritating boyish girls. Almost bit poor Hitomi's head off when she got in the way. I feel a bit bad for the poor girl, but it was just so funny."

"Wait a minute Miaka, what friend?" Shinji asked. As far as she was aware the red headed woman had never met one of her friends, and she didn't have that many anyway.

"You know, the boy from before, the one with the long hair? He's sat down just over there." She replied, pointing over to the far side of the room, and Shinji followed her gaze curiously until she saw him. Even from across the room she could see the irritating smirk on his face, and she knew he had been eaves dropping on their conversation. He waved at her in greeting as friends would, but the gesture seemed more mocking than friendly to Shinji. "Oh look he's seen you. Well then, I guess I'll leave you alone to catch up. Let me know how it goes." Miaka continued with a smile, and then quickly scurried off to watch from a distance. Shinji sighed, realizing that once again Miaka had embarrassingly supposed things about their relationship that just did not exist. Oh well, for now she would leave to young woman to her imagination and correct her on it later, Shinji had a fire shaman to deal with. She hung the towel around her neck as she walked towards him, then tied her jumper around her waist so that her hands were free and slid into the comfortable armchair in front of Hao. The soft cushions consumed her as she sank further into the chair, her tired muscles relaxing after the strenuous run. Even though her body was relaxing her eyes were conscious of the other watching people in the room.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, finally locking eyes with the twin brown orbs staring at her.

"Waiting for you." Hao replied casually, leaning back in his chair.

"Aren't you supposed to be in America looking for Patch village?" She said a little bitterly with the mention of the tournament she was missing out on.

"Why would I need to look for something if I know where it is?" He smirked, and Shinji rolled her eyes.

"Alright then, why are you here waiting for me when you have a tournament to be getting on with?" She said, already losing her patience with him. Even after a month Shinji just couldn't hold back her hostility when Hao was involved.

"There's nothing to do right now, and I was wondering how you were coping."

"With what?"

"Boredom." He said with a knowing smirk.

She paused for a moment, "I'm not bored."

"There's no point in lying to me so why do you bother?"

"Why do you even care?" She snapped back.

He didn't answer that one. Shinji sighed and stood up.

"I need a shower. I stink." She said, "I suppose you're going to follow me anyway though right?"

She didn't bother to wait for an answer that she already knew, and marched off towards the elevator, trying to pretend to herself that there wasn't a partially insane pyromaniac following close behind. It didn't really work, and when she was forced to stop and wait for the doors to open an awkward silence made her tap her foot impatiently. It left Shinji with far too much time to think, and thinking could be dangerous around a mind reader. She thought for a moment that even if she didn't like Hao very much, he was a welcome distraction from the absolutely nothing she had originally planned for that evening, so much so that she was almost glad he was there, even if she wouldn't admit it. Of course, as soon as the thought carelessly slipped from her mind she knew Hao would have heard her, and then silently cursed herself for not having better control over her thoughts. The tutting sound beside her broke her thought, and she looked over to her left and noticed an old couple staring rather openly at Hao.

"Children these days." The woman muttered to her companion, shaking her head with disapproval.

The man nodded in agreement, though he wasn't so quiet with his comment, "In my day you wouldn't have seen young people dressed so appallingly. No doubt his parents are some of those disgusting hippies. Why my father would-"

Shinji opened her mouth before he was able to continue his sentence, "You know, old age is no excuse to be rude and judgemental. Perhaps your father should have taught you a little common decency instead of encouraging your ill minded prejudice."

The elderly couple stared at her for a moment in shock, the woman looking at her with an expression of utter horror.

"Young lady, you should show your elders some respect!" The woman snapped, and Shinji laughed at her.

"Woman, you couldn't be _my_ elder if you tried. Besides, being old doesn't mean you deserve my respect." She replied, unable to smother the grin that made its way to her face.

"The cheek of it! I am going to have a word with your parents about your repulsive behaviour." The woman said, shaking a finger at her and steering her husband away in the direction of the manager's office, probably to alert her to the young girl's attitude and find out the names of the parents the old woman presumed were staying here.

"Good luck with that!" Shinji called after them with a mocking wave. The most the manager could do was kick her out, and honestly by this point she couldn't bring herself to care. She was tired of being surrounded by so many judgemental snobs. She felt bad for Hao, who no doubt was stuck listening to this kind of scrutiny from self important people all the time, forced to listen to the malicious thoughts that churned around inside his head without a way to block it out. When she thought of it like that it was a wonder he wasn't more messed up.

Another awkward silence followed now that the old couple was gone and Shinji regained awareness of Hao beside her.

"Sorry." She found herself muttering, though she wasn't quite sure what she was sorry about. Maybe she was apologising for the old couples ignorance, or perhaps simply she sorry for the burdening power he involuntarily had. Whatever the case she felt bad for giving him such a hard time before, even if the thought was irrational because he had definitely deserved it after everything he had put her through.

"Do you pity me, Shinji?" He asked, his face the careful masked smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"A little." She admitted as the elevator doors finally slid open. They stepped inside the empty space, and Shinji absently hit the button for the twenty-fifth floor.

"Your human friend is looking at us." Hao said, and Shinji was confused for a moment at the sudden change in subject, but she followed his gaze to the front desk of the lobby, where Miaka was grinning stupidly at them. The young woman offered her a quick thumbs up, and Shinji groaned in embarrassment.

" Well, we better not disappoint her." Hao smirked.

Shinji turned to ask why he of all people cared about disappointing a human, but before the words could fall from her lips he swiftly closed the space between them. It took a second for her to realize exactly what was going on, her body stiffening with shock as Hao snaked an arm around her waist. He moved her head slightly to the side with his free hand gaining better access to the mouth he had successfully captured with his own. His fingers tangled with the mess of a ponytail left from her run, drawing her in closer to the kiss as if he could consume her completely. It was hot and almost needy, frazzling her senses into overload and making her mind numb and blank. He pulled away just as the doors began to slide shut, and Shinji caught a glance of Miaka through the swiftly shrinking gap. She looked about as shocked as Shinji felt, though she wasn't sure if it was from the scene the young woman had just witnessed, or the vibrant pink colour that almost glowed from Shinji's eyes. Hao didn't bother to hide the smug grin that made its way across his face, and as the doors finally shut completely he surrounded them both in a blazing inferno that took them far away from the hotel. A thin black ring marred the perfect white floor where they once stood and the sprinklers rained down on empty space, attempting to quell the flames that no longer existed. When the staff would finally pry open the doors to shut off the alarms and attempt a rescue for the people they expected to be inside, they would find the lift utterly deserted, save for a small white towel carelessly lost in the centre of the charred circle.


	9. C9 Getting lost

**Chapter 9 – Getting Lost**

A bright flash of fire disturbed the calm tranquillity of the surrounding forest. Animals grazing in the open clearing instinctively rushing away from the flames and hid in the shelter of the trees. Shinji stumbled out of the blaze before it had even fully died down, throwing herself away from Hao and wiping the back of her hand across her mouth repeatedly.

"Urg! What the hell did you do that for!?" She cried. No matter how much she rubbed she couldn't get the feeling of Hao's lips off of her own, and it disturbed her to no end.

"It was amusing." He replied with a smirk.

"It was disgusting!" She countered, pulling a sour face.

"Your eyes would disagree with you." He pointed out, looking curiously at the vibrant pink that matched the growing colour in her cheeks.

"S-shut up." She stammered, turning away from him in embarrassment and glaring ahead of her at the unfamiliar surroundings. "Where are we anyway?"

"America." He said in her ear, and Shinji jumped, unaware he had gotten so close while her back was turned. Slowly she twisted back around to face him again. The close proximity of his body unnerved her, but she held her ground stubbornly.

"Why did you bring me here?"

He shrugged, "You're the one who said you wanted to be here."

"No I didnt."

"You did, in here." He replied, tapping her on the forehead. She bat his hand away.

"Not like this, and you know it. Seriously, what is your game? Why do you have to keep bothering me? You didn't even let me shower first! Why can't you just leave me alone?" She snapped, unable to resist tugging on her top in disgust.

"I can't let a good shaman go to waste. You weren't doing anything, so I brought you with me."

"I was doing something. I was doing lots of somethings!"

"You were watching TV and playing childish pranks on the hotel staff. That doesn't count as doing something."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "You've been spying on me."

"You know I don't need to spy to know what you're doing."

"That's both creepy, and annoying!" she cried "Are you going to do this forever? Interfere with my life like this until I give in to you? Well you may as well just kill me now and get it over with because I'm not going to become one of your brain dead lackies no matter what you do." She stepped back away from him and held her arms wide. "Go on, I won't even move. You can get even, and we can be done with all of this."

His watched her curiously, studying the determined look on her face and the strong gaze of her eyes. She was serious, and he didn't need to read her mind to know it, but he found it strange that she was willing to sacrifice her life so easily. It wasn't that she was giving up, or that she particularly wanted to die. It was defiance. Her stubborn pride refused to allow herself to be used as a tool by anyone. Her life was her own, and she would decide what to do with it. Shinji was allowing Hao to kill her. Somehow that infuriated him. If he was going to kill someone it would be because he decided to, not because they let him out of some strange sense of charity.

"I'm not going to kill you." He said.

Shinji frowned and lowered her arms, eyeing him suspiciously, "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to."

"I really don't get you, which is annoying because you have a pretty big advantage when it comes to understanding me." She grumbled, folding her arms across her chest.

Hao smiled slightly, a small curve of the lip that Shinji almost missed.

"I don't understand nearly as much about you as you seem to think." He said.

Shinji frowned in confusion for a moment, and then shook her head. She didn't get it, he always seemed to know everything, so what didn't he understand?

"I'm going to find a lake or something. If I'm stuck here I at least want to be clean." She said finally, not even waiting for a response as she walked off.

Hao didn't bother to stop her. She had no way of walking off without him knowing where she was, her mana was large enough that he could sense it from miles off if he concentrated on finding it. Besides, she was still close enough for him to hear her thoughts, and he would hear as soon as the idea of escape popped into her head. But for now she knew better than to try.

Weeks went by rather uncomfortably for Shinji. Hao's constant presence made her feel awkward, especially when he was keeping quite as he was doing now. She found herself repeatedly being overly conscious of him, and it wasn't the possible threat of her own demise that was the cause. Ever since he had kissed her (for the second time) she felt like she always aware of him, and then when she thought of it her face went embarrassingly red. It was frustrating, because although he hadn't commented on it yet, she knew he had heard it all from her thoughts with the smirk that always appeared in the corner of his lips when she did, and then she would get even more frustrated because of it. It wasn't fair that he could listen in on things she didn't even understand yet, especially when they were so irritably embarrassing. She shook the thoughts away as it rose into her consciousness again, and tried to think of other things. The sleeping outdoors part didn't bother her so much, even if the ground was hard and dry and she always had one too many stones dig into her back. What really got to her were the bugs. It wasn't that she was afraid of bugs, under normal circumstances she pretty much ignored them, and they ignored her. The problem was that for some reason the bugs in America found her delicious, constantly buzzing around for a quick bite whenever they got the chance. She was itching all over, and it was driving her nuts.

"What I wouldn't give for a can of bug spray." She thought aloud, slapping her arm and narrowly missing the flying parasite that had tried feasting on her blood.

They had been travelling what seemed like to Shinji as aimlessly all day, and now they lounged around in some field, soaking in the evening sunlight. She didn't get what he was hoping to achieve by walking everywhere. It wasn't like he couldn't teleport them both wherever he wanted to go, but at least the scenery was nice. Four fish roasted on sticks over the fire, and the smell was making her mouth water. They seemed to be taking forever, and she was starving. As boring as the hotel was at least she had room service. She glanced over at the forest beside their field and wondered if there was anything there she could snack on. Maybe some berries, or some mint leaves to make some tea. Mint tea sounded pretty good, especially with the way her breath would smell after the fish. She stood up, swotted at another bug that got too close for her liking, and pat the mud from her shorts.

"I'm going to look for some snacks." She declared to Hao, who had barely moved from his position by the fire since they'd sat down.

"Don't get lost." He replied.

Shinji glared at him. "I don't get lost."

"You got lost yesterday when you thought you saw a hazel nut tree."

"I knew exactly where I was."

"And the day before when you ran away from a group of mosquitoes."

"They kept biting me, and it still itches like hell!"

"And then it took you an hour to find your way back, and it would have been longer if I hadn't come to get you."

"Well you won't need to find me this time, because I absolutely won't get lost." She snapped, stomping away with a huff.

Hao found himself laughing slightly as he watched Shinji stomp away comically, muttering to herself about crazy pyromaniacs. She may not have realised it, but Hao was doing her a favour. She had been going mad from boredom in that hotel, and if he had left her alone like she claimed she wanted no doubt she would have spent the rest of her life needlessly going through the motions. At least here she would have some shaman company, and honestly Hao needed someone around who didn't just mindlessly follow his orders all the time, it made things interesting. He was certain his followers wouldn't like her though, and he knew that was why he had been stalling with this pointlessly long walk to camp. He knew she had been wondering about it too, among other things, but he didn't really care enough to tell her. It would be complicated enough when they got there, and they were supposed to be meeting the others within the next couple of days. Hao didn't really know what he was going to do with her. With her refusal to join him she wouldn't be of very much use, and she was bound to start more than a few fights at camp. All he knew was that he didn't want to kill her if he didn't have to, and that bringing her along seemed to be the easiest was to keep an eye on her. Besides in a strange way he enjoyed her company, and the redness in her cheeks whenever she caught herself thinking about their kiss was particularly entertaining.

The smell of burning fish pulled his gaze out from the flames and his attention back to the present. He didn't even remember turning back around to the fire in the first place, and now their dinner had burned. He pulled one of the fish harmlessly out from the flames and picked at the blackened flesh. Apparently he had been so lost in thought that he didn't even notice that the food was done, or that the sky was quickly growing dark. Lazily he stretched out his senses to look for Shinji who had no doubt managed to get herself lost again. He stood up sharply when he couldn't feel her, narrowing his gaze and reaching out his senses more thoroughly. Still there was nothing. Somehow without him realizing it she had managed to escape, and he grit his teeth in annoyance. The fish abandoned by the fire burst into flames, vanishing into dust. When he found her, and he would, she was going to wish he hadn't.

Shinji felt a sudden chill run down her spine, and it wasn't from the cold. She glanced around herself suspiciously, but the woods was just as quiet as it was when she first started roaming around, save for the crunching of twigs and leaves under her feet. She trampled on aimlessly, her arms full of the blackberries that she popped into her mouth occasionally as she walked. It was a lucky find, even if she wasn't particularly fond of blackberries. Still, food was food. By the time she realized that she was lost it was already dark, and the crackling sounds of a thunder storm warned her of the rain that was sure to follow. She was beginning to wish she hadn't suppressed her mana. It was an easy enough trick once you knew how to do it, and a good way to become undetectable from some of the stronger shaman around. Unfortunately the one strong shaman she had been using it against would actually be of use right about now. The only reason she had bothered at all was because he had been so smug about her getting lost all the time, and she wanted to prove she would be fine without him. Apparently she was wrong, and now she was stuck with two choices.

"I could either try to find my way back alone, or let my mana out and wait for Hao to find me... either way is going to be annoying, so which do I pick?" Shinji thought aloud, as if the silent wood would give her an answer. It didn't, and she frowned in annoyance. Either way she was too annoyed to go back. It pissed her off that he was right, and for dragging her out there in the first place. Maybe it would be easier just to keep walking forever; if she somehow managed to make it out of this forest maybe she could find a town and get the hell out of this place. It was no use and she knew it, Hao would find her, like he always did whether she hid or not. Still, she could at least prove him wrong by making it back on her own.

She stamped on stubbornly, walking till her legs ached and her stomach growled complaints at her. How she wished she'd waited and eaten those fish. She only had one last handful of berries in her hand, something that she had been saving for Hao, and then remembered that she was annoyed with him and stuffed them clumsily into her mouth. She was still hungry though, and she sighed. If only she had a cheese burger, or a cake, or some cookies! But she didn't, and she flopped down on a nearby rock in defeat.

"Sooo hungry..." She complained to herself. She had no idea how long she had been walking, but she didn't seem to be getting anywhere at all. For all Shinji knew she had been going in circles. Maybe now was the time to wait and let Hao find her. At least she might get some food out of it, even if she had to listen to his nagging. Although if he said 'I told you so' she was going to throttle him.

In that same moment the clouds opened up above her, and threw their contents of water all over her. She glared around at no one, and threw her hands up in the air. "Oh come on! What the hell did I do to you!" The rain continued to fall, soaking her through in a matter of minutes. It might have been horribly hot during the day, but at night it was chilly, and with her soaked clothes she soon found her teeth chattering. She probably should have just gone to find shelter, but by this point she really couldn't be bothered to move anymore. With an impatient wave of her arm the rain shifted around and away from her, avoiding her completely. Her body ached from the strain of using her abilities without Nindie's aid, and she felt her energy slowly sapping away from the constant effort to keep dry, despite her already wet clothes. It was frustrating how Hao seemed able to do these things without even blinking. They had most of the same abilities but he was always better at it than she was. Why? Why did she have such an annoying restriction from her own body? Why did she always seem to be ten paces behind Hao no matter how much she ran to keep up? It was infuriating. Even when she actually tried he seemed to breeze by so easily.

"Okay Hao, I give up," She cried bitterly, allowing her mana to burst free and surge around her, "Come and find me already!"

She heard a twig snap somewhere behind her, and turned around at the sound. Surely Hao hadn't found her already? He was good, but he couldn't possibly be that good.

The face that peered out from the darkness wasn't one she recognised, but that wasn't enough to keep her from throwing herself at the boy. "Oh thank god! Someone finally came to get me!" She cheered, pulling him into an over enthusiastic hug. He quickly shoved her away, and a pendulum was swiftly pointed at her face, though his own cheeks sported a slight blush. She noticed then the annoyingly familiar white outfit that no average person would wear, and her smile dropped slightly. She might not recognise him, but she did know the group he belonged to. The X laws. Now here was a group she probably shouldn't be getting involved with. Still, the boy looked harmless enough despite the threatening crystal in her face. He looked only a little younger than she was, with intelligent green eyes and a hair colour that matched. "Well you weren't exactly who I was expecting but whatever. Do you think you could help me find my way out of this forest? I'm kind of lost." Shinji explained.

The boy frowned, "Are you one of Hao's followers?"

"Hell no! As if I would ever be one of his annoying brain-dead lackeys!" She snapped, appalled at the idea.

"Then why did you call his name a minute ago?" He asked, glaring at her suspiciously.

She sighed in irritation. Leave it to Shinji to find the only person in the woods that was the least likely to help her, especially after blurting out Hao's name like that.

"Look, it's really not what it seems like. Hao's been holding me captive for a while, but then I got lost in this damn wood and I got tired of walking around in the dark. I didn't think there was anyone around here but him, who else was I going to call?"

"That doesn't prove anything."

"Oh for god's sake! I am not working for Hao, he's an idiot! If I was do you think I would dare insult him like that? No, I wouldn't, because unlike them I can form opinions of my own. Now for crying out loud are you going get your stupid string out of my face, or am I going to have to fight you too?" During her rant her pupils had been turning increasingly red, and she was lucky for the darkness that kept her eyes hidden from view. Still, the darkness wasn't enough to hide the hundreds of tiny silver needles of ice Shinji had formed around them, or that the rain had mysteriously stopped. Shinji's body felt like it was on fire from the strain, but she held her ground until the boys arm lowered and his pendulum zipped back into its holster.

"Alright," he said finally, "I guess I can give you the benefit of the doubt. You're a little young for one of his followers anyway."

Shinji frowned, and tried not to sound as offended as she was, "I'm fifteen."

"Really?" He asked in surprise, "Sorry, it's hard to tell in the dark."

'_As if the dark makes a difference.'_ She thought bitterly, dropping her hold over the rain and letting the ice needles clatter harmlessly to ground and melt back into water. The ache in her limbs slowly melted away with them.

"So why did Hao kidnap you?" He continued, out of curiosity or the need to interrogate, Shinji wasn't sure, but she didn't care what she had to answer if it got her out of the forest.

"I helped to kill him once. Apparently that means I have to join him now or something because he won't leave me alone no matter what I do."

"You killed, Hao!" He cried in disbelief, looking at her with wide eyes, and something akin to admiration.

"It was a long looooong time ago, and Asakura Yohken did most of the work. I just helped to finish him off really, so it's not all that impressive." She tried to reason, suddenly wishing she hadn't told this kid. She didn't like the way he was looking at her, and could almost see the cogs turning in his head.

"But you could help us fight him! We Xlaws dedicate our lives to defeating the evil of Hao, and you've already beat him once!"

"I really don't want to get involved again." Shinji replied, "Besides, I'm not even in the tournament anymore, so I don't really have any reason to fight him. I only did it last time to be king." _Not that it actually worked since I died a few weeks later anyway.'_ She added to herself.

"At least come with me to see our leader, Jeanne-sama. Our camp isn't far, and it's just outside the forest where you wanted to go anyway. I'm sure she would love to meet you, even just speaking to her would be a great help to us." He urged.

"I've already met Jeanne, and I doubt Marco will be pleased to see me." She said, trying to find a way out of it. This boy was having none of it, and apparently he hadn't really listened to her anyway."

"Jeanne-sama will have so much to ask. She'll welcome you gladly, I'm sure of it."

Shinji sighed in defeat, "Alright, I guess since it's on the way out of here anyway..."

He beamed at her, and started leading her off to where Shinji presumed the X law camp was.

"Oh that's right I forgot to ask your name!" He said suddenly, as if only just remembering.

"I'm Shinji." She replied with a smile. He might have been a little pushy, but she kind of liked this kid. He was at least nicer than some of the other X laws, but maybe that was just because he didn't really know any better yet.

He smiled back, "I'm Lyserg."


	10. C10 Plotting

**Chapter 10 – Plotting**

Hao had been out looking for Shinji for hours now, and he seemed no closer to finding her. Somehow it didn't occur to him that she might hide her mana from him. Clearly he had underestimated her, and it was infuriating. When he got her back he wouldn't let her out of his sight, he would tie her to his arm if he had to.

He suddenly felt a familiar presence appear behind him, and he turned to see an enraged spirit of rain furiously glaring at him.

"Where the hell is Shinji? What have you done with her?" Nindie spat, the rain surrounding them lashing out violently in response to her rage.

"It took you a while to get here." Hao pointed out with a smirk, unfazed by the rain or the water spirits anger.

"Do you think finding the two of you would be easy when you spirit away to America?!" She shrieked, "Now answer me, where is Shinji?"

"Somewhere in this forest, though I don't know exactly where." Watching in amusement as the spirit's fury seemed to escalate.

"You LOST HER?"

"She got herself lost actually."

"That's not the point! If you're going to kidnap someone, at least look after the stupid girl!"

"You aren't exactly doing the best job of looking after her yourself. You let her get captured. Twice."

"Oh screw you Hao! I'm going to find her myself." Nindie snapped, but just as she turned around to move away she stopped. Very suddenly, several miles away, she sensed something. She turned back to Hao then, and frowned at him, "You felt that too right?"

Hao nodded. It was Shinji, he could recognise her mana anywhere. No doubt the girl had gotten tired of wondering around in circles, and had finally given up her attempted escape. She was probably waiting for him to find her. He smirked at the thought. It would be easier to teleport to her now, but then, he felt like making the water shaman suffer a bit. It would take him about an hour to walk there, and in that time Shinji would get so bored and annoyed that when he found her she wouldn't even think of running off again. There was of course the issue of her hiding her mana again, but if that happened he could just teleport the instant he stopped sensing it. She wouldn't be able to get far.

Walking into the Xlaw camp at night was a strange thing, mostly because of the eerie kind of silence around the place. It didn't help that everything seemed so... artificial. Pristine white tents, all aligned perfectly side by side and illuminated in the dark by small white garden lamps that were pitched into the grass of a large meadow. A picnic table had been set up a little way in front of them, next to a travel barbecue. No campfire for roasting marshmallows on sticks for these people. Everything was so well organised that she wouldn't be surprised if Marco had a map that led them straight to patch village itself. She might not have been part of the tournament anymore, but she still knew what the second round entailed from past experience. She couldn't really imagine the Xlaws bumbling around randomly until they happened to come across the place, so they must have some kind of plan. Honestly, even though it was necessary, she was surprised to see them camping in the woods at all. They were always just so clean all the time; it didn't seem possible that they even knew how to rough it. Then again, she thought looking around; this hardly seemed like roughing it. No doubt they all had inflatable mattresses and duvets with plush soft pillows to sleep on too. Shinji couldn't help but feel a little jealous when she thought of her own bed for the last few days, the ground.

Marco spotted them before they saw him, and as he marched towards them he pulled his gun out of the holster strapped to his side and trained it on Shinji's head. He frowned at her behind his glasses as he stopped in front of them, but it was Lyserg her spoke to first.

"Lyserg, when you said you needed the bathroom I did not expect you to pick up stray dogs on the way back." He said disapprovingly.

Lyserg winced slightly, and fumbled to explain himself, "I didn't intend to find her. I just heard a noise and went to investigate. She was lost and I mistook her for one of Hao's followers, and then she told me that she's killed Hao before. Her name is-"

"Shinji Lemora. Yes I know." Marco interrupted.

"You've met before?" Lyserg asked, confusion written all over his face.

"Yeah, I told you that earlier but I guess you weren't listening. Your boss over here tried to shoot me about a year ago when I refused to join the xlaws." Shinji explained.

The boy looked horrified, "But I don't understand. We should all be on the same side, not fighting each other. Marco please I-"

"You are still so naive Lyserg, anyone who refuses to join us is our enemy. You should remember that." Marco replied coldly.

Lyserg looked sheepishly at the ground, like a child told off by their parent. Shinji rolled her eyes.

"You seem to have a habit of bullying kids, Marco." She said.

He glared sharply at her, "I should shoot you where you stand."

"That didn't work for you the last time, what makes you think it would now?" Shinji smirked, easing her body weight to one side and folding her arms with a smirk.

"You insulted our lady Jeanne-sama!" Marco cried in outrage.

"Ah she knows I'm just joking, you're the only one who gets offended. How is the old Jeanne in a box anyway?" She asked, purposely trying to piss off the blonde man and grinning widely.

"How dare you!"

"Marco, that is enough." A soft voice called. Shinji turned around and saw an iron maiden being pushed towards her by one of the larger X law members. "Shinji is our guest, and deserves our respect."

Shinji tried not to laugh as Marco bit back his next retort and bowed respectfully to the child in the metal box. Lyserg mimicked the action as it stopped in front of them and the random Xlaw was dismissed, walked away yawning.

"It is a pleasure to see you again, Shinji." Jeanne said, smiling at her as the face of the iron maiden swung open.

"Hiya Jeanne, still stuck in there I see." Shinji joked, looking up at the girl with the crimson eyes.

"We've been over this Shinji; I want to be in here." Jeanne answered, she was pretending to sound annoyed but they both knew she was smiling inside.

"Right right, anyways, how are you?"

"I am good; have you finally come to join us?"

"Sorry Jeanne, but you know me; I've never been one for matching outfits and all that."

"I suppose." The iron maiden answered a little sadly, but she didn't push on the matter. That was one thing Shinji liked about Jeanne, at least she knew what the word no meant, and didn't try to kill her for using it. Of course, she wasn't so sure the girl would have been quite so nice about it if she hadn't known about Shinji's past. She shrugged the thought aside. Jeanne respected her, and that was all that mattered; there was no point dwelling on what could have happened.

"Jeanne- sama," Lyserg said hesitantly, "Shinji told me earlier that Hao has been holding her captive."

"Is this true, Shinji?" Jeanne asked, sounding a little surprised.

"Yeah," the water shaman replied, "I couldn't attend my match for the tournament because of it, and now I'm disqualified. Apparently even after that he's not satisfied, he keeps insisting that I join him, even after I've refused a thousand times."

"And he hasn't tried to kill you?" Jeanne asked in confusion.

"Not really. He attacked me the first time I tried to escape, but he healed me up afterwards. I seriously don't get what goes through his head sometimes."

"Yes, it does seem rather uncharacteristic of him. I've never heard of someone who has directly opposed Hao as you have, and was allowed to live afterwards. Very strange." She thought silently for a moment, and then asked "Do you think he will come looking for you?"

"More than likely. Honestly I'm surprised he hasn't found me already, he's pretty good at that kind of thing." Shinji admitted.

"Then will you help us with something?" Jeanne asked hopefully.

"Like what?" Shinji asked sceptically, not liking where this conversation was going.

"Hao is evil, you know this as well as any of us. We want to finally put an end to him. I believe you might be just the person we need to lure him into a trap, and finally we can be free of him for good."

She didn't like the idea. It didn't seem right to trick him like that, even if he wasn't exactly poster boy for good behaviour. Besides, Jeanne was right what she said before, it was strange that Hao hadn't killed her. But he hadn't, despite what she had done to him in the past, which is something even the nicest of people would find hard to forgive. It didn't feel right to lead him into a trap with the intention of killing him after he hadn't killed her. Then again, Jeanne could probably force her co-operation quite easily. She only needed her as bait, and Shinji didn't have Nindie to fight with her. She was strong, but without her spirit ally she wasn't sure she could handle all of the Xlaws by herself. She would have to play this one carefully.

"I understand Jeanne, but I'm worried for you guys. Hao is just so strong, and without Nindie I don't know if I can defend you all if anything goes wrong." She wasn't telling a lie exactly, it was all true, she was just choosing which parts of the truth she was willing to tell.

"We are confident in our abilities. We just need the opportunity for our plan to succeed. Please Shinji. We will make it worth your while; there must be something we can do for you in return." Jeanne pressed.

That caught the water shaman's interest. "Anything?"

"Anything you want." The iron maiden encouraged.

"Can I have one hundred boxes of Maryland cookies?" Shinji asked excitedly.

"Cookies?" Lyserg blurted out in surprise.

"Of course! I love cookies, and Maryland cookies are the best!" she replied enthusiastically. She probably should have felt bad for selling Hao out for cookies, but she was confident he wouldn't be beaten, even if it was a trap. Besides, he could read her mind, so it wouldn't be difficult to warn him and still manage to get her cookies. Only out of fairness to him of course.

"Alright then, cookies it is." Jeanne said, and with one last excited smile, the face of the iron maiden closed. "Now I must prepare."

Wordlessly, Marco moved towards his leader, and wheeled her away to begin their plot. Lyserg stayed beside Shinji, wondering what was going through the water shamans head, and Shinji daydreamed happily about the free cookies she would soon receive.


	11. C11 A plan unfolds

**Chapter 11 – A plan unfolds**

The Xlaw camp seemed to be as boring as Shinji had expected, even when everyone was awake and moving about, but at least it was better than being lost in the woods. No one was really bothering with her as she sat lazily in the grass, which she supposed was a good thing really, but it didn't do anything to sate her curiosity about what they were planning. Lyserg kept her company though, because he wanted to or because he had been ordered to she wasn't sure, but whatever the case she was glad for his company, especially since he was nice enough to offer her something to eat. They had talked for quite a while, and Shinji was surprised to discover that Lyserg was from England too.

"But you speak Japanese so well! I didn't even notice!" Shinji cried, and Lyserg laughed.

"My grandfather taught me before he passed away," He explained, "It was something I needed to learn since the shaman fights are based in Tokyo."

They swapped over to English after that, which confused several of the other Xlaw members whenever they went past. At least until Marco strode over and told Lyserg off for making his companions uncomfortable, and the boy was ordered to speak in Japanese again. Shinji ignored him though, and continued to speak in English just to spite the blonde man, which only made their conversations more amusing.

"I'm glad you agreed to help us Shinji." Lyserg said with a smile.

"Well, I'm not really doing anything you know, I'm just the bait." She said, and then continued after a pause, "I don't think it's really a good idea for you to get involved in the fight either Lyserg."

"Why not?" He asked with a frown.

"You're too young for that kind of burden. Killing someone isn't really the end of things after you've done it, and it never really solves anything." Shinji explained, though she didn't really think any of them could kill Hao anyway, she just felt like warning the kid a little.

"He murdered my parents! Killing him is the only way to make things better." Lyserg snapped.

"Will killing Hao bring your parents back?" She reasoned.

"No, but it will stop him from hurting anyone else."

"Well that's a fine sentiment; if it was the only reason you were trying to kill him."

"What are you talking about?"

Shinji sighed, "You and I both know that you aren't trying to kill Hao for any reason other than revenge."

"So what? It's not like other people won't benefit from it too. No one will miss him."

Shinji winced internally at those words. They were harsh, and sadly they were probably true too. If Hao died would anyone really mourn him? Somehow it just made her pity him even more, but she brushed aside that thought for the moment.

"You really don't get it do you? " She said, "Okay, let's say that somehow you manage to kill Hao, then what? What if someone else after that managed to piss you off? Would you kill them too? After you kill one person it becomes surprisingly easy to kill again, and it's not a very easy chain to break. What if by killing Hao you end up just like him?"

"That would never happen." Lyserg replied, outraged by the very suggestion of it.

"Maybe, but do you really believe that Hao was born the way he is? That one day he just up and decided to start killing for no reason at all?"

He looked a little confused, "I never thought-"

"No, you didn't. No one ever likes to think that their enemy has reasons for the way they are." She replied a little too sharply, and then caught herself before she became too angry about the subject. Honestly she didn't know why she was getting so annoyed by all of this. Maybe it was just the Xlaws general self-righteous attitude that got to her. She didn't like hearing that kind of attitude from this kid. "Hao's mother was murdered, just like yours was, and it was getting his revenge that started all of this."

"Well what about you then? You killed Hao, and you haven't turned out like that." Lyserg pointed out.

"No, but I'm hardly a saint either. My reasons for killing Hao weren't driven by emotion, I just wanted to be the Shaman King, and I took up an opportunity that was presented to me to thin out the competition. It's not something I'm proud of, and it made me re-think a lot of my ideals afterwards. My ambition got the better of me, and now five hundred years later he's come back, I've been forced out of the tournament and held captive without my spirit ally. Actions have consequences Lyserg, even if they aren't immediately apparent at the time."

Lyserg was quite for a moment, and Shinji hoped that at least some of it was sinking in.

"How do you seem to know so much about Hao?" He asked, unable to hide some of the suspicion that came with the question.

"Before we fought Hao a nekomata named Matamune filled me in on everything he knew about Hao. He knew Hao in his first life, and I guess he felt like he needed to explain the reason for his old masters actions before Asakura Yohken and I teamed up to kill him." She explained, lying back in the grass and looking up at the night's sky, "I wonder what that weird cats doing now..."

The two sat in silence for a while, Lyserg pondering over her words, even if they would never change his mind about wanting to kill Hao, and Shinji contently watching the stars. It was only then that she realised that the moon was invisible in the sky.

' _No wonder even my water control was so much more strenuous than usual. It wasn't because of Nindie, it's because of the new moon." _Shinji thought. Just like the tides, her control over the water element became stronger and weaker with the changing of the moon. Usually it was almost un noticeable with Nindie's help, but without her it played an unfortunate part in the water shamans abilities. Even now she was keeping the rain off of herself, and she had even extended that luxury to Lyserg, but she felt the strain of it throughout her whole body. An ache that seemed to seep into her vey soul grew the longer she used her abilities. Maybe she was getting herself into a bigger mess than she had thought.

"He's coming. Everyone get into positions!" Marco ordered and making Shinji jump slightly.

She sat up, and wondered where exactly she was supposed to go as the 'bait'.

"Sorry Shinji," Lyserg said, coming up behind her before she had time to wonder when he had moved, "but I have to do this."

She felt the sudden pain at the back of her head just for a moment, before slumping forward and slipping into unconsciousness.

Hao picked up the pace the moment Shinji's thoughts were no longer open to him. They had been walking along at such an excruciatingly slow pace that Nindie felt like she was going mad, but as they got closer to the Xlaw camp the thoughts of the group had slowly pushed their way into his head. He knew about their plan, as futile as it was, and of Shinji's minor part in leading him into it. He also knew that she was planning to send him a warning through her mind as soon as he got close. Of course, that was before she had been knocked out. He teleported himself in right in front of the Xlaws, and was immediately attacked by every one of the Xlaws angels. The spirit of fire was faster though, and blocked them all with an infuriating ease before the flames had even died down around Hao. A moment later he shattered each of their oversouls, and several of the Xlaws dropped to their knees from the pressure.

"Enough!" Jeanne cried, just as Hao was about to counterattack.

She was outside of her iron maiden prison, dressed in her battle outfit and glairing fiercely at him. The Xlaws surrounded her on all sides defensively, Lyserg and Marco to her right. A little way above them, held suspended inside a human shaped cage by Jeanne's spirit ally Shamash, was Shinji. It's other hand had morphed into the shape of a huge axe. If Shinji ever decided to wake up, she wouldn't even be able to move.

"Hao, hand yourself over to our Justice, or Shinji Lemora will die." Jeanne said.

"What the hell?!" Nindie cried, rushing towards the group. She had finally made it to the tree line when she had heard Jeanne's demand. "Why the hell would you kill Shinji just because Hao's being an asshole? That makes no sense!"

No one but Lyserg seemed surprised by the spirits sudden appearance.

"She is a necessary sacrifice for the greater good." Marco said, like he had rehearsed the line a thousand times.

"Like hell she is! Hao you idiot, do something!" She yelled, turning to the fire shaman who just folded his arms.

"No thanks." He replied casually.

"But you're the reason she's in this mess!"

"She wondered off on her own, I had nothing to do with it."

"Shinji wouldn't even be in America if it wasn't for you!"

As Nindie continued to scream at him, and Hao rebuffed her arguments, Shinji slowly regained consciousness. The back of her head hurt like hell, and it took her a moment to remember what had happened. Lyserg had knocked her out just as Jeanne had told everyone that Hao had arrived, and now she couldn't move.

"Urg, why am I the only one who ever seems to get knocked out. It freakin' hurts." She grumbled to herself as she opened her eyes and looked around.

Hao noticed it the moment Shinji woke up, and smirked inwardly. This was good. If she just kept quite long enough for him to tell Nindie then she could get herself out before any of the Xlaws had even realised she was conscious.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL AM I DOING UP HERE?!" Shinji yelled.

Hao sighed. So much for that plan.

"I am sorry, Shinji." Jeanne replied sorrowfully, "but if Hao does not agree to submit to our justice, then you will die."

"What the hell! Why should I die because Hao is being an asshole? That makes no sense!" she cried in outrage, struggling around inside the cage as much as she could.

"That's what I said!" Nindie replied, "Seriously Shinji, why do you even bother with these idiots."

"I'm beginning to wonder that myself." Shinji muttered. Somehow it hadn't occurred to her that Jeanne might try to use her as a sacrifice. Exactly what was the iron maiden presuming about her and Hao's relationship that would make her even think that Hao would give himself up with such a tactic? Was she really that desperate? It was nuts. Lyserg was looking at the ground biting his lip. From the looks of the nasty red mark on his cheek he must have thought the same thing. Apparently he wasn't a hopeless cause after all. It was Jeanne she wouldn't forgive, and Shinji cursed herself for falling into such a trap. She should free herself right now and beat the crap out of every one of them. The problem was that her body was close to its limit thanks to the strain of using her abilities without Nindie, and the new moon didnt help matters. If she escaped now there was no guarantee she wouldn't be falling into an even tougher situation. She needed to think this through. Especially if she still wanted to get her cookies, which she really did.

'_Hao if I die I leave all of my belongings to you.'_ She thought to the fire shaman dramatically.

"What is your decision Hao, will you accept divine punishment? Or will Shinji Lemora die?" Jeanne asked, becoming impatient.

"Fine, kill her then. It doesn't matter to me." Hao replied, turning around to walk away until Nindie cut him off.

"How dare you! You can't just mess with her life like this and then just let her die you prick!"

"_Uh, Hao, you do know I was kidding right?"_

"I have no use for a weak shaman." Hao replied coldly, glancing back at Shinji.

"_Ah I see what you're doing Asakura. Okay then I'll play your little game __**and **__get my year supply of cookies!"_

"Damn it Hao, who the hell are you calling weak! Don't forget that I was the one who killed your sorry ass five hundred years ago!" she yelled. Her face was twisted in anger but on the inside she smiled, surprised how well she was able to act. Hopefully no one paid too much attention to her eye colour, because they were far too blue for the anger she was supposed to have.

"Don't forget who saved your life a few weeks ago." he shot back.

"Yeah, _**after**_you almost killed me!"

"Well it's not my fault, I thought you were stronger."

"Shut up! You fight dirty!"

"And you fight badly."

"Ahh, that's it you stupid pyromaniac, I'm gunna bloody kill you!" She screamed.

Nindie finally caught on, and quickly faded out into her medium to aid Shinji's escape. The air quickly turned cold around the water shaman, freezing the metal trapping her until icicles hung from the frame and the cold burned at her skin. With one fluid motion she forced her arms outwards, and the cage shattered into tiny frozen pieces. She fell fast, and landed in a crouch, disguising the pain of her exhaustion with a steady confident gaze and the sure filled way that she moved slowly into a standing position. Breaking out of that cage had taken far too much out of her. Jeanne was still a strong shaman, even if she had resorted to such underhanded methods, and breaking part of her oversoul was no easy feat. Her power would be limited now, and overly showy attacks would be out of the question if she wanted to stay standing for the show. It was time to resort to a more basic means of fighting, even if her muscles would hate her for it.

Ice formed over her hand, stretching up her arm and down off of her fingertips into a long, sharp blade. It glowed softly blue with her infused mana and Nindie's spiritual energy.

Hao followed her lead, summoning a similar blade of fire into his hand.

"_We'll have to end this quickly. I don't have enough energy to keep this up for long, and my head is killing me."_

Hao leapt towards her faster than she expected, and she barely threw up her sword quickly enough to block it. She moved to counter attack, leaping back and swinging her blade at his side, and he blocked it just as easily. Both of their elements worked against one another, each trying to smother the other while their masters clashed blades. They fought so fluidly and swiftly that Shinji was surprised one of them hadn't accidently hit the other by now. But they hadn't. Every move was so perfectly performed that from the outside it looked ferocious, and no one would have suspected that it was staged. It helped that Hao knew ever move she made just before she made it, but for the most part Shinji had to trust on her instincts when it came to blocking his movements, and she was glad for her own skill with the sword.

Suddenly, Hao teleported away from her, and Shinji almost fell over from the force of the swing she had expected to be stopped. He appeared behind Jeanne before any of them had time to even react, one arm tightly around the iron maidens waist and arms while his sword pressed dangerously close to her skin.

"Ah, how the tables have turned." Hao sneered, pressing the burning blade closer to her throat and letting the flames lick at her skin. Jeanne bit back a cry as the white hot pain seared through her.

Lyserg was the first of the Xlaws to react, darting forward with his crystal pendulum soaring ahead of him. Shinji dived forward as quickly as she could, blocking the boys path and grabbing the wire as the crystal flew past her head, and forcing it to stop with her own mana. It cut deep into her skin, and Shinji tried not to wince from the pain. She was furious at him for being so stupid by interfering, for all he knew he could have gotten himself killed, and the throbbing in her hand only made her anger worse.

"Lyserg, stay out of it!" She snapped, her eyes flashing red as she stared him down.

His surprise stopped him from arguing back, and for once Shinji was glad that her eyes changed with her emotions. The shock might keep him out of trouble long enough for her to be done with this whole charade. None of the other Xlaws moved, even Marco who she had expected to go in a mad rage over his leaders capture. Apparently Jeanne's safety was worth more than anyone was willing to risk.

She let go of the wire and the pendulum clattered harmlessly to the ground. Flexing her hand confirmed that nothing was seriously damaged, even if it did sting like hell and she felt the blood drip down over her fingertips. Today really wasn't her day. She stepped forward carefully, stopping in front of Hao and allowing her sword to melt away, reforming as a thin band of ice around her wrist where Nindie chose to reside for the moment.

"You want me to go back with you right?"

Hao nodded silently.

"Fine. Let Jeanne go, and I'll go with you."

He smirked, pretending to think about it for a moment, "I don't know, killing the Xlaws leader would no doubt save me a lot of trouble in the future."

"Hao." She warned slightly, he was beginning to play his part a little too well and she was getting tired. Even if she had to sleep on a bed of leaves again tonight, she was too tired to complain.

"Alright. But if they try anything, I will kill them." He warned.

Shinji nodded, and Hao pushed the iron maiden towards her. She caught the girl as she stumbled.

"Shinji, you cannot join him." Jeanne pleaded as Marco rushed forwards to pull her away and look at the burn on her neck.

"Relax. If I pretend to go willingly it will be easier to find a way to kill him later on." She whispered, knowing full well that Hao would be able to hear their conversation. Jeanne on the other hand, did not.

"Does this mean you're going to help us?"

"You could say that." "_But you would be wrong. No way am I gunna help you ya two faced git! Trying to bloody kill me! If it weren't for the damn cookies I would have so kicked your ass!"_

Jeanne smiled a little too smugly, thinking that she had finally gained the upper hand with her new 'ally', and watching as Shinji moved to Hao's side.

"Oh and Jeanne," Shinji called as an afterthought, catching the iron maidens attention, "you might want to double my order." She said with a smile, just as the fire surrounded them, and the two vanished from sight.


	12. C12 Worries

**Chapter 12 – Worries**

When the flames died around them Shinji realised that Hao hadn't taken her back to the forest where they had previously set up camp. The rain didn't seem to have reached here, this place was made up of a dry red rock, and a flat plain of land covered in trees and shrubbery. Behind them was a huge red cliff face that seemed to stretch on for miles. She recognised it easily. They were near at Mesa Verde, the ancient abandoned city that almost seemed carved out of the cliff itself, and the entrance to the hidden location to patch village. Surrounding them were several tents, all dotted around in an empty space between the wall and the trees, roughly surrounding a large campfire that lay in embers in the centre. It took her a moment to realise that this was Hao's camp, the place where his followers had been waiting for him while they tromped around in the forest.

Hao snatched up a large bag, and then walked off wordlessly back into the forest. She knew she was expected to follow and for once she had no complaints. If she had stayed there she felt like she would have to sleep with one eye open. When they were far enough not to be disturbed Hao stopped, and threw her the bag.

"I'm going to get a fire started. You set that up." He ordered, and then stomped off a little further into the woods to collect fire wood.

Shinji frowned, "What's up with him?"

Nindie released herself from the band of ice around Shinji's wrist, and the ice melted away, dripping water down her hand.

"Don't know, don't care." The spirit said grumpily, fading away in the usually ghostly fashion.

"Is everyone pms'ing or something?" Shinji grumbled, flopping down onto the ground and tugging the bag open. She pulled out the wooden poles inside and stared at them quizzically, and then did the same for the thick sheet of tough sandy martial. Eventually it clicked in her head, "Oh, it's a tent!" And then she clumsily attempted to put it together.

A little while later Hao came back, his arms full of dry branches. He dumped them unceremoniously on the ground, and sighed in annoyance when he saw the rickety mess Shinji had made of the tent. The legs looked about to collapse, and it was falling in on itself with more than one loose piece of rope hanging down in knots.

"What is that?" He asked with a frown.

"Yeah alright, I know it's not very good, but I think I did alright for my first go at it." She replied with a grin.

"You've never set up a tent before?"

"No."

"Where did you sleep when you weren't near a town?"

"In a tree."

"What if it rained?"

"Still in a tree." Shinji shrugged.

Hao nudged her aside and took over, attempting to untangle some of the rope and fix the mess she had made. "Go and sort out the fire."

"Fine." She said, muttering about 'grumpy gits' as she picked up the branches and moved them to a better spot. She started gathering some of the larger rocks in the area and placed them in a ring, before assembling the branches in the middle, and stuffing the inside with dry leaves.

"I got me a ton of cookies~," She started singing, cheerfully and completely out of tune as she worked, "Oh how I love my cookies~ I really want my cookies~ I wish I had some cookies~ yummy yummy cookies~!"

"Will you be quiet?" Hao snapped, and Shinji glared at him.

"Geeze what the heck is wrong with you? You're so freaking grumpy."

Hao got up and stopped in front of her, glaring sharply back. "I just had to save you from the Xlaws because you decided to run off on your own, and you want to know why I'm so 'grumpy'?"

"Oh please, I could have dealt with that fine on my own and you know it." She replied, folding her arms stubbornly.

"And what if you hadn't? What if Jeanne really had killed you?"

"Then I'd be dead, big whoop. Why does it matter anyway? You'd gain the most from me dying, one less person to oppose you right?" She asked, frowning in confusion when he didn't immediately agree with her, "Right?"

"Let's just get some sleep, the tent's up properly now." He said instead, turning away from her.

"No hang on a sec," She said, grabbing his arm, "You hate me don't you? So why should it matter to you if I die or not?"

"...I don't hate you." He replied finally, though he still wouldn't look at her.

"But I killed you." She replied in confusion.

"And you never stop reminding me of it. I find you frustrating, but I don't hate you." He confirmed, a little more surely of himself now. He pulled away from her grip and moved to face her more fully. "You don't hate me either do you?"

She hesitated for a moment. After everything he had put her through in the last few months she felt like she should hate him, but when she really thought about it the truth was that she didn't. She understood what he meant when he said she frustrated him, because that was the same way she thought about him. Both of them sat on opposite ends of a view on things, and both of them found it annoying that the other didn't agree with them when they would probably make a pretty good team under different circumstances. Their staged battle in front of the Xlaws pretty much proved that. Still, Hao wanted the humans dead, and Shinji didn't want to kill anyone. That was the main problem that things came down to, but perhaps they could forget about that for now and settle into a truce.

"I guess not." Shinji replied eventually, and smiled slightly, "If I did I probably wouldn't have even made it through one day stuck with you without wanting to shoot myself in the head, let alone the whole week I've put up with."

Hao frowned, but chose to ignore that last part in favour of the first. She didn't hate him. He had known it all along of course, it was hard not to with his abilities, but at least she had realised it for herself now. Maybe he wouldn't have to worry about her meeting his followers as much as he thought. Even if things ended up badly she could handle herself, and she wouldn't kill any of them. It made him wonder why she seemed so weak today, her mana was still fairly intact, but she was only using a small portion of her power. It wasn't something he had seen from her before. She frowned slightly when he asked, but she explained anyway.

"It's because of the new moon." She said, "Generally my connection to water is stronger closer to the full moon, but when the moon isn't there it's as much of a strain as the other elements are to me. Normally it's not something I notice because Nindie's with me and she strengthens that connection, but obviously she wasn't with me until the end and most of the damage was already done by then."

"I see," he said, thoughtful for a moment. It was a strange kind of situation. He had never experienced the same kinds of restrictions she had with the other elements, he simply chose fire because it suited him the most. "You should probably train more, who knows when you'll be stuck in a situation like that again."

Shinji frowned at him, "Thank you for those great pearls of wisdom oh great sagey one!"

She decided not to remind him that if he hadn't spirited her away without Nindie she wouldn't have been in that situation to begin with, and he chose to pretend he hadn't heard that thought or the sarcasm in her voice.

"We really should get some sleep." He said, moving towards the tent and slipping inside.

Shinji followed a little awkwardly, and then stood dumbly at the entrance as Hao lay himself down with a blanket over him.

"Uh Hao, the tents kind of small." She said.

"So?" he replied.

"Well maybe I should just sleep outside or something."

"You're the one who wanted to sleep in a tent."

"Well yeah," She answered, wondering when he had picked that bit of information from her brain, "But there's only one blanket."

"I don't mind sharing."

"Don't you think it's a little weird?"

"We shared a bed before, remember?" He reasoned.

"Yeah, but I also gave you hell for it in the morning."

Hao sighed in annoyance, "Just come over here." He said.

She hesitated for a moment, and then gave in, kicking off her shoes and laying down facing him. He pulled the blanket over the both of them, and then pulled her closed, resting an arm around her waist. He frowned slightly when he noticed her damp clothes, and then channelled a heat through his hand that stretched over her body and dried her off quickly. Shinji glanced at him with a questioning look on her face.

"You should have said."

Shinji shrugged, "I'd forgotten about it."

Hao nodded slightly and closed his eyes.

"Hey Hao," she asked, "Is it weird that this isn't weird?"

"Not really." He answered, not really thinking too much about it. Somehow it felt strangely normal to lie with her like this, almost nice in fact, he wasn't about to question it.

"I feel like it should be weird." She said, apparently not thinking of it the same way he was.

"Just go to sleep."

"Fine." She grumbled. It was silent for a moment, even her mind had surprisingly gone quiet. "Hey Hao, about the Xlaws-"

"Stop worrying about it, I'm not angry about it anymore." He said, cutting her off.

"No not that, I mean the thing I said to Jeanne about being her little spy or whatever. I was thinking that if they ever tried to plan against you again I would let you know about it. I hate underhanded schemes. It pisses me off." She said with a frown.

"So instead you would be a spy for me?" Hao asked, interested in the way this was playing out.

"Well not exactly. I just want to keep the tournament fair you know? I don't like the idea of someone winning because they bumped off the competition behind the scenes. It's not like I'm working for you or anything, I'll just be giving you a heads up."

"Alright then." He replied, satisfied with the answer. She was doing more than he had expected for him after her flat out refusal to join his cause.

"And I'm not going to try to kill you either." Shinji added.

Hao smiled, "I already knew that."

"Not unless you reaaally piss me off." She continued with a grin, before rolling over onto her stomach and promptly falling asleep.

For a moment Hao questioned if she was really asleep. No one should be so dead to the world that quickly, but it was true, her mind was surprisingly still and the sound of soft snoring filled the tent. It was official, Shinji was the strangest girl he had ever met. Maybe that was another reason he liked her despite the odds; she was the closest thing to unpredictable he had with his abilities. She made things interesting. Still, he couldn't understand why he had gotten so mad about what had happened with the Xlaws. It wasn't so much the trouble it caused him, he always found it amusing to foil their pathetic attempts against him. No, it was the fact that Shinji had practically walked herself into harm's way that had angered him, and it was even more annoying that she had such a stupid weakness for someone with her power. What was even more confusing was that he would never have gotten angry if it was one of his followers in her place. If they all dropped dead tomorrow he wouldn't really mourn them, except for Opacho, so what was it about the strange girl who had killed him that made him worry about her so much? It really didn't make any logical sense.

"Hm...Hao..." she mumbled in her sleep, and for a moment he wondered if he had heard it right, but then she said his name again and rolled over onto her back. She was frowning slightly, and couldn't seem to lie still, wiggling around in making small grumbling sounds. What exactly was she dreaming about? And what exactly did it have to do with him? "No...Hao...gimme back my cookies!" she cried, rolling over for a final time, latching herself onto his arm and falling back into silence.

Hao stared at Shinji happily hugging his arm in surprise, and laughed slightly. Definitely a strange girl. Somehow he didn't even care about his own confusion. For now he would throw his worries aside and see what happens. He could keep her out of trouble. What harm could she possibly do now anyway? Looking at her sleeping face it was hard to imagine this small childlike girl could have ever been a danger to him, and she certainly was no threat now. Besides, he had bigger things to be thinking about, like the shaman tournament. He had no intention of letting her go, even if this truce couldn't really last forever.


	13. C13 Healing

**Chapter 13 - Healing**

Hao awoke slowly the next morning, caught somewhere between wanting to stay asleep and knowing that he should probably get up. He was perfectly aware of the body pressed up against his side, and he welcomed the comfort of Shinji's cool skin. The moment was strangely pleasant, like waking up from a good dream and the peaceful feeling following you into reality. He wasn't sure what he had dreamt of, but it had certainly been a while since he'd had such a good night's sleep. Glancing over at Shinji confirmed that she was out for the count, and probably would be for a few more hours if nothing woke her. One hand seemed to be clutching onto the side of his poncho, while the other arm was thrown behind her, and her legs were in a similar state, one pressed close to his body while the other stretched out widely to the side. It was like her body was trying to pull closer and push further away from him all at the same time. Dribble leaked from her gaping mouth and onto his arm, which had apparently become her pillow sometime in the night, and he strangely found it both cute, and disgusting. Catching the thought he threw it aside quickly, and focused on other things. The air was silent, his head blissfully empty of the conscious minds of others just for a moment, until a small sense trickled into his range and grew louder as it approached. He recognised it instantly, and despite the intrusion on his peace it brought he tried not to mind too much.

He didn't have much time to think about what to do with Shinji, and simply plopped her head onto his lap and sat up just as the little African girl burst into the tent, a wide excited smile on her face as her large eyes settled on him. "Hao-sama! Opacho knew you was here!" She cried happily, almost dancing on the spot, "Kanna-chan said Hao-sama wouldn't be till later, but Opacho knew!"

Shinji seemed to grumble in protest from being moved and from the sudden noise, but apparently it still wasn't enough to actually wake her up and after a moment of sleepy fidgeting she found a more comfortable position hugging one of his arms, and continued dreaming. Absently Hao thought what a heavy sleeper Shinji was, and how incredibly defenceless she became when she was asleep. Opacho could probably kill her now if she tried. The thought brought his attention back to the little girl now, who had fallen silent at the sight of Shinji.

"Opacho sorry," She whispered sheepishly, "Opacho didn't mean to be loud."

"It's alright Opacho," Hao said evenly, "I doubt even an explosion could wake her up."

Opacho fell quiet again, seeming to study the sleeping girl curiously, "Is this a friend of Hao-sama?"

"Yes," he replied, distracted for a moment by the three other approaching shaman he could sense, "something like that."

He felt the three girls hesitate outside for a moment, heard the debating in their minds before Kanna took the lead and stepped inside the tent. Through the gap in the doorway he saw Macchi and Mari unable to hide the surprised look on their faces at the sight of the mysterious girl in his lap, before the flap slid shut and blocked their view.

The blue haired woman awkwardly tried not to stare, but her mind was full of questions that she wasn't going to ask, and Hao definitely wasn't going to answer.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion Hao-sama, Opacho ran off before we could stop her." She explained.

"Opacho missed Hao-sama." Opacho piped up, frowning up at Kanna, and then over at Hao.

He smiled slightly, "I won't be long now Opacho. Could you wait back at camp with the others? There's a few things I still need to do."

"If Hao-sama wants, then Opacho will." She mumbled, shuffling out of the tent followed close behind by Macchi and Mari. Kanna on the other hand lingered behind for a moment.

"Is there anything you need Hao-sama?" she asked dutifully.

"No thank you Kanna, you may go." He answered, waiving her away. She nodded, and with one last glance at the sleeping white haired girl, she left.

Hao sighed to himself and looked back down at Shinji one hand absently weaving a strand of her hair between his fingers as he thought. The way she was discovered would complicate things a little when he introduced her to the rest of the group, and even if his followers didn't ask him directly, he knew they would all have a thousand questions buzzing around in their minds. Behind their shock, he knew that the younger two of team flower were jealous, particularly Mari, and he was certain they would not get along. No doubt the three girls were already spreading the news among the camp of a strange girl sharing his tent. It was going to give him a headache, but for now he was going to forget about it. He really didn't have to care about what his followers thought anyway, they were his followers for a reason, they knew better than to question his personal life. Somehow his hand had made over to hers, and he held it tight. Shinji was far too valuable to give up, and he wasn't letting her go for anyone.

Shinji winced slightly from the tight grip, and she mumbled something that sounded like a complaint in her sleep. It was only then that he noticed the rough patch of skin against his palm. He loosened his hold and pulled away gently, opening her hand for a better look. Running in a perfect straight line across her palm was a horrible cut slashed deep into her skin, rimmed in an angry red and only just beginning to scab over properly. His fingers traced across the mark, and even in her sleep she frowned uncomfortably. How had this ever happened without him noticing? Did she hurt herself while she stumbled around in the woods, or was it something the Xlaws had done to her? He was certain it hadn't happened during their staged fight, there was no way he couldn't have noticed if he had, and it would have been more of a burn anyway. The answer came to him a short flash of memory. Shinji had grabbed on to the Diethel boy's pendulum wire, the attack that was originally directed at him. He glared around at no one, furious for not realising that she was injured sooner. His grip on her hand tightened again and this time the pain was enough to pull her out of her dreaming.

"Ouch." She mumbled, opening her eyes and frowning at him in confusion. The look on his face was enough to tell her something was wrong, and she forced herself to sit up, choosing to ignore the position she had been in and his grip on her hand. "Hao, what is it?"

"You're hurt." He said quietly, but it only managed to confuse her further.

"Huh?"

"You're hurt." he repeated a little louder, capturing her eyes with his furious gaze. She was shocked, and it showed.

"What? Where?!" She cried wrenching her arm away and trying to looking herself over. He grabbed hold of her wrist and stopping her from flailing her arms around, showing her the wound on her palm. She stared at it dumbly before eventually it sunk in.

"That's it? It's just a scratch."

"It is not just a scratch! It's going to scar!" he snapped.

"So? I've got plenty of scars, this is just adding to the mix." She shrugged.

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is the point?"

"That bastards hurt you, and I didn't even notice!" he yelled, silencing Shinji.

He looked away, unable to hold her gaze. It didn't make sense, why did he feel so much anger over something so small and insignificant? She had said it herself, it was only a scratch, and he'd done far worse damage to her himself on several occasions. It only made him more frustrated that this frustrated him so much in the first place. She was just as confused as he was, and he could hear the relentless question repeating over inside her mind. Why did he care? Suddenly her mind went still, peacefully silent as she placed a hand over his own to get his attention, and held out her injured palm for him to see.

"I'm alright," She reassured him, "Watch."

Slowly, the cut began to glow faintly blue with her mana, the rough scab disappearing and the skin seemed to be mending itself. When the light faded away there was only a thin line of baby pink skin to give away that there had ever been a cut at all. Shinji grinned triumphantly to herself, and flexed her hand experimentally. The ability wasn't perfect yet, her skin felt tight and strange, but it was definitely a great start in the right direction. She had sped up the healing process of a wound that would have taken weeks to heal naturally.

Her grin grew at the surprise on Hao's face, "What?" she said, "You think in all this time I haven't done any kind of training? I'm not that lazy you know."

"When did you-"

"Well it's not like I haven't had a lot of free time on my hands while I was at that hotel, and after you kept healing yourself during our fight I figured it was something worth trying for myself. A little bit of experimentation led to this." She explained, proudly holding up her palm.

"You used your mana to heal yourself." He simplified.

"Exactly!"

Somehow, the excited look on her face made Hao laugh, and he shook his head. Honestly he really hadn't expected her to learn something new just from a fight. Most of the time Shinji seemed so stupid, but then, she couldn't really be as dumb as people thought with the abilities she had. He had underestimated her, and strangely he was glad for it. Wordlessly, he pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. Her back stiffened uncomfortably as he breathed against her neck.

"You are such an idiot." He said.

Shinji felt her face go hot, and she knew that she must look like a cherry tomato right now.

"Uh Hao, could you let go now please?" She asked awkwardly, unable to bring herself to pull away.

"Why?"

"This is really weird."

Hao loosened his grip slightly, looking around at her face and smirked. His eyes met hers and if possible, her face went even redder.

"You're blushing."

"No I'm not!"

"And your eyes are pink."

"No they're not!" she pulled her hands up to cover her face and Hao laughed.

"You really are an idiot."

"Stop calling me an idiot!" she cried, "and get off me already!"

"No."

"Let go! Let go! Let go!" She shouted, attempting to batter him over the head with her fists. He caught both hands easily and laughed. She yanked her hands out of his grip and attempted to hit him again just as Opacho peeked back inside the tent.

"Hao-sama, Opacho heard yelling and-" The little girl froze as she saw one of Shinji's hits actually manage to make contact with Hao's head, and her eyes went wide, "Ahh! Hao-sama's being attacked!"

"It's fine Opacho, shes actually really weak." He said, managing to grab Shinji's flailing arms again and hold them still.

"Who're you calling weak?!" Shinji snapped, but this time failing to pull herself free from his grip.

Hao chose to ignore her, instead focusing on the little girl who had interrupted them.

"Opacho, why aren't you waiting with the others?" he asked.

"It's already noon so Opacho came get Hao-sama. Then Opacho heard yelling." She explained.

"All right, tell the others we won't be long." He replied.

The little girl nodded, before quickly scurrying outside.

"We?" Shinji asked, finally freeing her arms and climbing out of his lap to sit facing him.

"You must have realised by now that I was bringing you back to my camp."

"Well yeah, but I don't really get what you hope to achieve by it. I mean, do you really expect me to get all chummy with your brain dead groupies?"

"There's nothing I expect to achieve, but if I am keeping you around you would have to meet my followers at some point, particularly if you expect to keep up this hoax of pretending to be my follower for the Xlaws." Hao explained.

"Oh right, I forgot about that." Shinji frowned, "I don't really think now is the best time for me though."

"Why not?" He asked, suddenly suspicious. Her mind seemed so blank, he couldn't hear her thoughts at all.

"Hao... I need to go home for a while." She said, "Just for a few days. There's something I need to do."

"And what is that?"

"Just family stuff." She replied, waving her hand like it was nothing.

"If that's all then why are you blocking your mind from me?" He glared at her.

Shinji looked at him in surprise, "You mean it's actually working? I didn't think it was! I mean I tried it a couple times and you didn't seem to react at all, so I just figured it wasn't. It's kind of hard to tell since I'm not the mind reader here. So it's really working then?" She asked excitedly, apparently oblivious to his glare.

"Yes." He replied stiffly. It wasn't often people got around his mind reading, and it had never happened as a conscious effort before. Apparently Shinji was full of surprises today, but this one he wasn't so sure he liked.

Shinji finally seemed to notice the look on his face and frowned at him, "What are you glaring at me for? I thought you'd be pleased about this! Now you finally get some peace from my content brain babbling. It can't exactly be pleasant for you either."

She was right of course, with her mind blocked his own mind would be finally have some peace, but it still made him feel strangely vulnerable.

"How do I know you'll come back when you're blocking your thoughts from me?"

Shinji shrugged, "You'll just have to do the same thing every other person on the other planet has to do, trust me."

He frowned, already not liking the idea.

She sighed, "Look I'll only be a few days. A week tops. And it's not like I don't know where you're heading. You said it yourself; I need to be around you if the Xlaws are going to believe I'm their spy or something."

It was true, he knew it, and Shinji had never really lied to him before. Quite the opposite in fact, she was brutally honest when she wanted to be. It was one of the things he liked about her. Hao didn't like not knowing what she meant to do when she went back to England, because that was the only place he could guess she would call home, but at the same time he also knew keeping her here when she didn't want to be would only cause him a whole lot of needless hassle. Better for him to let her go now, and to pick her up himself if she went astray than to struggle with her. It would be easier to keep her from fighting him if he let her have a little bit of freedom, easier for the both of them.

"Alright, but swear you will come back." He said, holding her gaze and gripping onto her arms.

"I already said I would, remember?" She replied, trying to push back the uncomfortable feeling from his face so close to hers.

Hao relaxed a little, but didn't loosen his grip on her arms, or pull back. Shinji felt the heat rising up her face as he continued to stare at her.

"What?" She asked awkwardly.

He paused before answering, apparently enjoying her discomfort. "Your face is red again."

"It's your fault." She muttered, "You're too close."

He smiled slightly, leaning closer still, till her lips were only a breath away, "Really?"

He kissed her, and she didn't mind it. Her heart stopped; everything seemed to stop, and all there was was the gentle sensation of his lips moving across hers. A brush of feathers across her skin; Seductive and tempting with only the slightest of touch, setting her skin on fire and her nerves into a frenzy. It was different from before, it wasn't forceful or possessive, just a light feeling, gentle and sincere. She was the one leaning in for more, throwing all reasonable thought out of the window and giving in to the moment.

Eventually Hao pulled back, resting his forehead against hers and capturing her gaze once again. Her eyes were pink, and her face was still flushed, but in that moment there was a strange sort of peace between them that neither could really explain.

"Shinji," Hao said, "I want you."

Just like that the moment was shattered, her senses returned and she pulled away in shock.

"W-what?" She blurted out, completely dumbstruck.

He frowned slightly, "You heard what I said."

"But I killed you!" She cried.

"So you seem to love reminding me."

"I just don't get it, it's too weird!" She tried to reason.

"You were kissing me back." He pointed out.

"...my lips are traitors; they don't know what they're doing!" Shinji fumbled, grabbing for any excuse she could by this point. The whole situation was far too confusing. She had liked kissing him, but at the same time it didn't make any sense that she did, or that he kept kissing her in the first place.

Hao sighed and stood up before she could say anything else. "I'll let you think it over for a while, but you should know, I'm not going to give up." and with those last word, he strode out of the tent, leaving her alone with her struggling thoughts.

"...Well hell."

Hao


	14. C14 home at England

Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .

Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.

Chapter 14 – home at england

It had been three days since Shinji left, and Hao was sulking. He didn't like how she was gone for so long, and he was beginning to get suspicious. She said she would be back, had promised him just before she left, but then it wouldn't be the first time someone had lied to him, or tried to at least. But now that she had gained the ability to block her mind from his it would be a lot harder for him to tell if she was or not. And what if for some reason or another she was unable to get back? What if she was hurt? Or trapped somewhere? He had expected her back by now. So where was she? It annoyed him that he didn't know, and everyone in camp had gotten wind of his foul mood. It was like a dark ominous cloud floated above his head, and only Opacho had the guts to go speak to him while he was like that.

"Hao-sama?" she asked, her curiosity finally getting the better of her as she watched him silently glare into the fire. He didn't look towards her as he answered.

"Yes Opacho?"

"Why is Hao-sama not happy?"

He looked up, dragging his gaze from the flames to the concerned little girl, a slightly bemused look crossing his face. He hadn't realized that everyone knew he was mad, so absorbed in his own thoughts that he hadn't really paid attention to anyone else's, but looking around the camp he could see the uncertain looks he was getting from some of his followers.

"What makes you think I'm mad Opacho?" he asked.

"Hao-sama's heart is unsure. Opacho is worried." She answered. It always amazed him how honest she was, and not because she was afraid of him either. A small smile came to his lips. Only one other person did that, and he had no idea where she was. The smile dropped with that thought.

"I'm all right Opacho, there's just something on my mind right now. That's all." He said, knowing that the other people in the camp were listening in.

She didn't seem all that convinced, and for a little girl she was actually pretty smart despite her innocent mind, but she nodded and didn't press the matter any further.

Hao sighed inwardly, drawing his gaze back to the fire and returning to his thoughts.

In England

"Well...were here." Shinji said, her hands casually placed in the pockets of her jeans as she stared up at the great stone building before. The house had been in her family for generations; built in the eleventh century and refurbished over the ages making it one of the oldest buildings in London, and a place that shinji had called home during many lifetimes.

"It hasn't changed much." Nindie noticed.

"It never does." Shinji mused, as the two ascended the mass of stone steps that led to the grand oak door of the main entrance. The place was the size of a fort, and built like one, and yet the front door was always left open, as if daring people to enter. The wood should have been heavy and tricky to push, yet it opened without as much as a creek, allowing shinji inside without much difficulty. It was black inside. Not a single light lit or curtain undrawn, so the moonlight could not even penetrate the suffocating darkness. "Well," she said, listening to her own voice eco around the halls, "this is a warm welcome."

"You don't suppose they've moved do you?" Nindie asked, floating around, curiously inspecting their surroundings.

"I really doubt that."

Suddenly, the lights lit around them with a burst of flame, and a dark shadow swept into the room.

"We have been anticipating your arrival mistress," the cloaked figure said in near whisper, their face downcast to hide their face in the darkness of their hood, "Please, this way, master awaits."

Shinji and Nindie sent each other a side glance, before nodding slightly and following the figure up the great staircase and through a series of halls. The person walked briskly, and their cloak both masked their face and gender, neither girl had any idea who it was, and they kept their guard up. They knew the current master of the manner was a very mysterious person and it was very like them to have a hooded doorman or woman, but they had been tricked more than once by the people of the house, and although it was as much their home as the others, the mansion was no longer in their control and not all family members had agreed with their activity. The current head of the house hold hadn't done anything to try and restrict their movement or their participation in the shaman tournament like he had with some of the others, in fact quit the opposite, he had encouraged it. Although for what reason they weren't sure of, and it would be more than unusual to say it was out of the kindness of his heart. He was the kind of person that manipulated everything around him to make things the way he wants, and everything has to meet to his standards. Shinji didn't know how he would take her sudden 'truce' with Hao, but she was almost certain that he knew. He always knew everything.

They stopped outside of a large wooden door at the end of the hall which the mysterious person held open for them, gesturing for them to go inside. Shinji sent one final look to Nindie, before stepping into the extreme darkness of the room.


	15. C15 back in the tournament

_Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang ._

_Expect some violence, swearing, and funny._

**Chapter 15- Back in the tournament**

"Left! Left! No your other left!" Nindie cried from her spirit sword form.

"Nindie, shut up I'm trying to concentrate!" Shinji yelled back, blocking an attack and jumping back.

"DUCK!!!"

"For crying out loud, I do not need a back seat driver!"

"Well clearly you do cuz your getting your ass kicked!"

Shinji sighed irritably, blocking yet another attack only to be hit brutally from behind. This was not a fair trial; it was three against one for pity's sake! She was defiantly going to kill that damn master when she got back for putting her through this shit.

_Three hours earlier..._

_Shinji stepped into the total darkness of the room. Her guard was well up, and Nindie wasn't far behind her. A thin stream of moonlight flittered through a crack the thick curtains, dimly illuminating a large neatly carved wooden desk and the outline of a tall armchair. They both felt the strong presence sat there. They walked to the centre of the room in silence, and waited to be addressed. _

"_Shinji Lemora, what a pleasant surprise. It has been long since I last saw you." A voice said. It was clearly male, and by the sound of it old and weathered, laced with false kindness. But Shinji had never been able to match the voice with a face, so she could only guess the age of the man, or his true purpose. He was always shrouded by shadow._

"_It has." She agreed, thinking how ironic that was since he couldn't actually see her, the darkness in the room made sure of that._

"_Now, I have heard some disturbing news, is it true that you are no longer participating in the shaman tournament?" He asked._

"_Yes it is."_

"_I see, and how did this come about exactly?"_

"_Hao Asakura held me captive for a while, and I was unable to attend the match."_

"_So you were automatically disqualified and did not actually lose a battle, correct?"_

"_Yes." _

"_Interesting." Silence filled the room for a moment, while the man was deep in thought. "There may just be a way for you to re-enter the tournament, although it will not be easy."_

"_How is that possible? The first round is already over, and we were yet to fight a single opponent." Nindie asked. It was the first time she had spoken to the head of the household directly, and as a ghost it was defiantly uncommon. Somehow the family had got it into their heads that spirits were tools to be used and thrown away when seen fit, so it would have come as a shock to hear Nindie talking so openly, without being addressed first. But the master took it in his stride and answered her like he would any of his shamans just because the spirit's sheer power was not something the family could afford to lose._

"_That may be so," he replied, "However, although the name Shinji Lemora means nothing to the common shaman, I am sure the patch officials will know who you are Shinji. That along with the circumstances in which you were forced to withdraw I believe will give us a strongpoint in persuading them."_

_Shinji had to admit, although she wasn't too pleased with using her name to get her way, it was a pretty sneaky and ingenious plan._

"_But they wouldn't just take me back like that would they? There would have to be some sort of trial." Shinji added thoughtfully._

"_Yes that is correct. And there have been only a few occasions where it was possible for a shaman to re-enter the tournament. You would have to fight three of the shaman council men at the same time, and win."_

_Shinji contemplated this. She knew she was strong, after all not many people could do even half the things she could, but then fighting a battle of three against one without doing any serious damage to any of her opponents would not be a complete walk in the park, an she was not prepared to kill anyone under any circumstances. Not only that but she knew the patch were strong, otherwise they would never be able to take such a title and protect the shaman king when that time comes. But there didn't seem to be any other choice if she wanted to compete again, and she really did want the chance to kick Hao's ass after he got her disqualified. If she was back in the tournament she would have to face him at some point, and the fight wouldn't be completely meaningless like it would if she was still out of the tournament._

"_All right, we're in. Now how do we arrange this exactly?" Shinji said, after a sharing an agreeing look with Nindie. The man chuckled._

"_I will sort everything out myself however there are a few conditions."_

_Shinji frowned. She knew there would be a catch, there always was with her family, especially now that he was in charge. Everything came at a price._

"_And they would be?"_

_He paused for a moment. "It had been said that you and Hao Asakura have become rather familiar with one another, although the story seems highly unlikely considering the past you both share and the fact that he is the reason you had to leave the tournament."_

"_It's true, he no longer has a grudge against me for killing him, but he has made it clear that he wants me around so he can keep an eye on me. He thinks there might be a possibility that we may find another way to go against him."_

"_He doesn't see you in any other way then? Nothing... closer?"_

_Shinji's face flushed red at what he was implying, and she was for once grateful for the darkness of the room. She thought of all the times Hao had kissed her, the way it always made her knees weak and her eyes change colour. No one had ever had that effect on her before. Then she thought of his confession, how he said he 'wants her' and she had to mentally slap herself before she lost her mind. She realized she still hadn't answered him._

"_Well, we aren't at each other throats at every possible moment if that's what you mean, and I don't find his company completely intolerable even if he is an arrogant bastard sometimes." She replied finally, pleased she was able to keep her voice steady and neutral, although she had a feeling that she had paused for too long and he didn't believe she was being completely truthful. But there was no way she was going to tell the head of the house hold something so personal about their relationship. She knew there was something there between them now, and even if that scared her a little she wasn't going to let the head use something like that against Hao, she wouldn't want that for anyone._

"_Either way I have decided that an alliance with Hao is better than being completely against him, at least until the time comes when you finally have to fight each other. If there is any way in which you can become more familiar with Hao I want you to try, he might go easier on you in the final battle, thus making the win simpler."_

_Shinji frowned, "I am sure I would be able to defeat Hao without using such mean. I would much rather win by my own strength than manipulation."_

"_That is all and well, however if you were able to beat the Asakura in this lifetime you wouldn't be out of the competition right now would you."_

"_Hao has learned some new techniques, and it caught me off guard. It won't happen again."_

"_Well see that it doesn't, you won't be getting any more second chances after this." He said, a little sharper than before, clearly his patience was wearing thin. He didn't like being opposed, even if it was someone who is supposed to be much stronger and wiser than himself. "I also want you to take Rosie with you when you leave, she will be on your team for the second round."_

"_Is that everything?" Shinji asked, feeling more than a little insulted by the man's sudden change of tune._

"_Yes, you may go now. I will send someone to you tomorrow with the details of the match. And don't disappoint Me." He replied as the doors swung open and the two girls were ushered out of the door._

Back to the fight...

"Ahh, you guys are really getting on my nerves now!" Shinji yelled as her arm was cut open, the wound burned but she brushed it off as nothing and continued to fight. She spun to counter attack, swiping her sword and barely skimming one of the patch officials.

"So close and yet so far." Nichrome mocked, jumping back as vines lashed forward and grabbed her arm, almost wrenching the sword from her hand.

"Gaah, you stupid bastards! You know what, screw this. Nindie, do it." She cried, slashing at the vines and leaping up into the air. The sword vanished and in an instant Nindie was towering above them in her giant over soul form, Shinji standing smugly on her hand, feeling a little more than pissed off. "You know I tried to go easy on you guys, but you've left me no choice." Nindie reached down and swiped at the three men, catching them in a water prison and lifting her hand so Shinji could watch them struggle for breath.

"Uh, Goldva, dose this count as winning? Because these guys aren't gunna be going anywhere any time soon, and they don't have much air left." She said, turning her head towards the seething older woman who was sat on the ridge above them.

"They have not run out of mana yet." She replied stonily.

"Oook, but if we wait that long they'll be dead, and you'll be down three council members."

Seconds went by as Golva seemed to weigh her options. She couldn't afford to lose council members, but technically Shinji hadn't won the battle because they all still had their over soul fully intact, although it looked as if Thalim would be losing consciousness soon.

"All right, Shinji Lemora you are officially re-entered in the shaman tournament." The elderly woman said grudgingly. She wasn't pleased that someone was able to beat her council members so easily, but the idea lingered in her mind that this girl could possibly be the one to defeat Hao again in the future. Shinji smiled happily, and released the three men from the water prison, gently laying them on the ground while they coughed and spluttered. She jumped down off Nindie's hand and walked towards them.

"Uh, are you guys okay?" she asked, leaning over and peering at them curiously. Radim sat up, coughing slightly, pushed his sunglasses up on his face and gave her a quick thumbs up. Nichrome on the other hand got to his feet immediately, hiding his face in shame at the loss, and Thalim was sprawl across the ground unmoving. Shinji hurried over to him, gently placing her hands on his chest and dragging them upwards, the remaining water in his lungs following the movement and spurting out of his mouth. The man began coughing and gasping for breath, and she sat him up and patted him on the back. "Sorry Thalim, I didn't think you would drown that easily."

"Its –cough- it's all right, you fight very well." He replied, a small smile on his face.

"Sooo, no hard feelings?"

"None whatsoever." He smiled at her, and she grinned back turning back towards the other two. "What about you guys, you don't hate me now do ya?" she asked, pouting lightly and batting her eyelids. Radim laughed at her and beamed cheerily.

"Of course not dude! That was one mondo awesome fight! You rock!"

"He he thanks!" she looked over at nichrome expectantly, waiting for her to do something other than stare at her with a mildly pissed off look on his face. And when he did speak he said something she really didn't expect.

"Your arm is going green."

"My what is going wh- OH MY GOD! What the hell is happening to my arm!!!" she cried, gripping onto her limb and pulling it in front of her face. She hadn't noticed it before, but where there was a slight cut that she hadn't healed, the area around it was turning a sickly green and it was slowly spreading.

"Calm down," Nichrome said walking towards her and grabbing her injured appendage to inspect the wound, "it's only a little poison."

"POISON!"

"Quit moving so much! You'll make it spread faster." He snapped.

She froze, instantly stopping her frantic panicked arm gestures and staring bug eyed at the boy in front of her. Nindie reverted back from her giant state into her usual ghost human form, and floated beside them, carefully watching the situation.

"Hao-sama would be able to heal this easily, but then, you're nowhere near as strong as he is. Why don't you just give up now?" he said, glaring at her. Shinji stared at him in shock.

"You're one of Hao's followers?! I thought the patch had to be non bias in the tournament?"

"It's not bias because Hao is defiantly going to become the shaman king. No one is able to defeat him. And as a patch official it is my duty to support the shaman king."

"You know, you're logic is completely messed up."

"I-"

"Oh shut the hell up you stupid little brat! And gimme back my arm!" she said, wrenching it from his grip and turning her back to him as she began healing the wound from the inside out. "Damn boy, friggin poisons me and then starts preaching about Hao. Like I don't hear enough about that bull shit from the damn egotistic pyromaniac himself. Ah there we go, that's better. It was easy to fix once I knew what was wrong with it." She continued, flexing her arm and grinning at her work. The green was gone and so was the wound, and again there wasn't a trace of it ever being there before. She turned back to Nichrome and smirked, lifting her arm and pointing to the former injury. "Ha, totally healed. Shove that up your precious 'Hao-sama's' ass." She grinned, before stomping off and leaving a very shocked and raging Nichrome behind.

The other two patch officials were barely able to hide their laughter at the scene, and Radim just couldn't help but give Shinji a high five as she walked past him towards Goldva.

"Sooo... how long do I have to get to patch village exactly?" she asked the old woman, who never seemed to be able to remove the scowl off her face. Shinji wondered if she was always like that or if for some reason or another it was just around her.

"You have one week, until sunset of the seventh day." She replied, handing the girl a light blue and white oracle bell, much like her old one. Shinji nodded.

"I think I can get there in time. And thanks." She smiled but received no smile in return, before Goldva turned around and walked away. Shinji turned around to face the three remaining patch officials as she strapped the oracle bell onto her right arm.

"We'll guys; I guess I'll see you in a week."

"Good luck dude!" Radim said with a grin.

"And be careful, there are many desperate shaman travailing at this time, they may try to attack you for information on the whereabouts of the village." Thalim warned good heartedly. Nichrome said nothing, but continued to stare at her with a slight frown, and she guessed he was deep in thought.

"Thanks guys, don't worry I'll be super careful." She answered with a smile, "Nindie, you ready to go."

"Can't get any more ready, I am dead, remember?"

Shinji laughed, "Well someone's in a good mood."

Nindie smiled and quickly changed back into her giant spirit form, lifting Shinji up onto the palm of her and setting her down on her shoulder.

"Bye guys! See you soon!" Shinji called down, grinning as Nindie floated up into the air and flew off. She was now officially back in the tournament, and although she wasn't sure how Hao was going to take it she couldn't help but feel excited anyway.


	16. C16 seeing you again

_Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang ._

_Expect some violence, swearing, and funny._

**Chapter 16- Seeing you again**

Shinji sat on the roof of the building, her feet hanging over the edge as she stared out towards the huge swirling mass that was the Great Spirit. It hadn't taken her long to wake up from the vision after passing into the village, and since then she hadn't been able to take her eyes off it.

"Just look at it Nindie," she said to her spirit ally who was floating beside her with the same trance like look on her face, "this will be ours soon, and nothing is going to get in the way of our victory."

Nindie smiled at her friend's confidence, her deep sapphire eyes turning towards the snow haired shaman, but then a frown etched upon her face when she remembered something that in her opinion was best left forgotten.

"What about Hao?"

Shinji looked up with a start, her beautiful blue eyes turning grey as she realized he would once again be her enemy. A bitter sigh escaped her lips, but she refused to let someone like Hao Asakura weaken her determination, no matter how painful that might be.

"I have to go to him, I promised" she finally said, her voice hard and devoid of any emotion, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to give this up, and if he doesn't like it that's his problem."

Silence filled the air around them, and Shinji could feel the burdening weight pressing down on her shoulders. She didn't want Hao to be mad at her, but there didn't seem to be any way around it. She refused to become one of his lackeys, not just because she hated being bossed around; she could tolerate that if it was necessary, but because she couldn't bring herself to believe in his cause. She knew why he wanted the destruction of all humans and it wasn't only for the sake of the planet like he had his followers to believe, but for his own personal revenge on a race that caused him so much pain. But in his own quest for retribution he was blinded to the pain he caused on innocent people, human and shaman alike. Every person he killed had someone who loved them, either as a friend, family member or a lover, and now they suffered the same feeling of loss that he does. People always use the saying 'an eye for an eye' to justify their actions, but does that really solve their problems? Does the pain ever really go away? Because the truth of the matter is, if everyone took an eye for an eye with every wrong doing that went on, the whole world would be blind, and hatred would be the only feeling people would know.

Nindie looked at Shinji, her face full of concern. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew how hard this must be on her right now.

"Look, Shinji, just because you're back in the tournament doesn't mean you have to hate each other. I know you don't really want that." The water shaman nodded absentmindedly to what the ghost girl was saying "and I'm sure if Hao really loves you he'll get over it, right?"

"Ri- whoa whoa hang on a second. Love? When did love come into this?" she asked, feeling a slight flush appear on her cheeks, but her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Shinji, it's obvious he loves you, there's no way he would keep you around this long if he wasn't. And I'm pretty sure you love him too."

"Okay, let's get this straight here. Hao only keeps me around because he sees me as a threat and he can't kill me. That does not mean he loves me. And I sure as hell don't love him! I killed the guy for pity's sake!"

"That was five hundred years ago, and he didn't exactly stay dead did he? He's gotten over that factor so why can't you? And if he really wanted you dead he wouldn't have bother healing you after your last big fight."

"That still doesn't mean he loves me."

"Oh for crying out loud girl, open your eyes! Are you blind? You know I really don't like the idea of you guys having a relationship; honestly the whole thing makes me sick, but what I hate even more than that is the fact that you won't admit that there is defiantly something between the two of you." And with those final words Nindie disappeared in the usual ghostly fashion, leaving Shinji alone on the roof top to figure things out.

There was no way Nindie could be right. Hao only ever thought of his revenge, she could see that. Everything he had ever done was in aid of it. And sometimes, when he looked into the fire Shinji could see the darkness of his thoughts, and the pain hidden behind it. You didn't have to be a mind reader to notice it. But then, there were still the times he had kissed her, the way her body couldn't help but react to it even in the beginning when it was forced. They had shared a bed twice now and she hadn't exactly completely hated it, and he wouldn't have tried it if he hadn't wanted too. Unless of course he was just trying to wind her up, but even then there were so many other ways of doing it, so why was everything he did with her something that should have been considered romantic? It wasn't as if either of them were the romantic type, and Hao wasn't exactly prone to flirting with anyone, so it wasn't a common tease for him. Hell she would have been surprised if he teased anyone in general! So why was everything so different with her? Unless... Nindie was right?

"Miss Shinji?" a voice called from behind, wrenching Shinji from her thoughts. She jumped slightly and turned to see who it was that had called her. There, standing not five feet away was Rosie, clutching onto the same wide eyed black cat plushie that she carried everywhere. The little girl was staring at her curiously, her big amber eyes seemed to study her, but her face remained impassive. There was always a stillness around the girl, and it was a rare day indeed if she managed to crack a smile from her stony exterior. Shinji guessed it was from growing up in the manor; however she couldn't help but feel from the looks the child gave her that she knew something that the older girl didn't know.

"Yes Rosie?" Shinji answered. There was a slight pause before Rosie said anything, and the wind picked up lightly, gently blowing the young girls light blonde hair around her small body. It was amazing how close to white her hair was, so much like Shinji's that it was possible the trait somehow passed down in the generations to her, even though she was not a direct descendent of the water shaman. The entire family originated from her sister, and not Shinji herself. Without realizing it, Shinji had begun to think of Rosie as Rima, even though their personalities were nothing alike.

"Should we possibly find ourselves a third team member soon? If I am correct we cannot compete without one." Her voice was quiet and emotionless, and her vocabulary was substantially more mature than you would expect from the average nine year old girl.

"Yeah, your right. But first there's someone I need to see first. Do you want to come with me or would you rather wait here until I'm done?" Shinji asked.

"I will come; you are going to need me to remind you what is important."

Shinji nodded, but said nothing, she was used to Rosie saying things like that, and usually she was right.

Hao paced up and down the path in the forest, fire blazing in his eyes and a perilous look on his face. The spirit of fire towered behind him, sensing his master's rage and growling low in his throat. Both of them wanted blood right now. He was sick and tired of waiting. Shinji had been gone for over a week and he still had no idea where she was or even heard from her at all. He had almost taken out his anger on Opacho, but he had managed to stop himself and instead wondered off alone in the woods to calm down. It wasn't really working. He sighed and rested his head against a tree, his fingers digging into the bark in his frustration. He had never felt so worried for another person in his life, and it was driving him mad.

He heard a rustle in the bushes, a branch snapped, and he spun around at the sound, throwing a fire ball towards the noise.

"Holy crap, Hao!" Shinji yelled, ducking as the fire ball rushed towards her face. It barely missed her head, and as she straightened up she glared at him. "Damn it will you watch where you throw those things? You could have hurt someone!"

He was frozen in shock for a moment and his heart skipped a beat. She was there, right there in front of him. She was all right. A smile almost made its way to his lips, but then he remembered how worried he had been, how she had been gone without telling him where or even letting him know she was safe, and his anger returned tenfold. It was bad enough that she had been worrying him sick, but when she finally does show up she starts yelling at him! Granted he had attacked her, but she shouldn't have tried sneaking up on him like that!

"Where the fuck have you been?!" he yelled, stomping over to the girl who had caused him so much aggravation over the last week and a half.

"sheesh, calm down, it's not like you didn't know I was gone." Shinji retorted, folding her arms and frowning.

"You said a few days, not over a damn week!"

"And what are you my mother? I told you I had stuff to do."

"Well next time don't."

"I'm not one of your lackeys Hao, you can't tell me what to do!"

He lost it. The spirit of fire roared into the night, shaking the ground with the sheer volume of its rage. Hao slammed her against a tree, and captured her mouth with his. Shinji was shocked to say the least. First he was yelling at her and next he had her up against a tree and was kissing her! She tried to push him off, but he grabbed onto her wrists and pinned them beside her head. He forced his tongue into her mouth, rubbing it against hers until she could barely hold back her moan. It wasn't until then that she realised how much she longed for him while she was away. His voice, his touch, his eyes; she missed those the most, because although they could be notoriously dark there was always a hidden warmth in them when he looked at her, even now when he was mad. He pressed his body against her, pushing her against the rough bark. She was hot. Everything felt hot. Tugging her arms free she rapped them around his neck, pulling him closer. She wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her. Eventually, he pulled back, resting his head against hers and sighing as she tried to catch her breath.

"I was worried." He admitted quietly, not being able to meet her eye.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't expect to be gone so long." Shinji apologised, feeling slightly guilty. It was clear to her that Hao must have been like this for a while for him to act so rashly, or for him to admit something that in his eyes would have been close to weakness.

"Where where you?"

"I went home; I had to report back to the head everything that's been going on."

"Everything?"

"Well okay, not everything." She answered, a small smile appearing on her lips as she leaned in and kissed him lightly. She may not know what was happening between them, or the feelings they had, but she knew that right now she was enjoying the company.

"Miss Shinji."

And then the moment was broken. She had forgotten that Rosie was still with her, and she groaned inwardly. Hao snapped his head back at the voice, and turned to glare at the little girl, but Rosie didn't even flinch.

"Who are you?" he spat.

"Rosalinda Demi Lemora" she answered, staring at him boredly.

"Lemora?" he questioned, looking back at Shinji in slight confusion. Shinji sighed.

"She's my little sister." She answered, slipping away from her position against the tree and walking towards Rosie, "in this life time at least."

"Miss Shinji, now that we have seen who you needed to see can we please try to find or third team member?" the little girl asked, looking up at her older sibling with that same knowing look on her little face. Hao frowned.

"Shinji, what does she mean third team member?" he asked, a sneaking suspicion in the back of his mind telling him what she was going to say before she said it. Shinji sighed. She knew this conversation was coming, but she was really dreading it.

"She means a third team member for the shaman fights; I'm back in the tournament Hao." She told him bluntly, holding up her right arm with the blue and white oracle bell. Hao stared at her for a moment, before:

"What?"

_Hey people, just so you know I'll be updating 2 new chappys every Sunday from now on, sept 4 this week cuz I have an art exam 2moz and I haven't had the time 2 write anymore. Sorry guys ^^ but thanks 4 reading xx_


	17. C17 stupid pyromaniac!

_Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang ._

_Expect some violence, swearing, and funny._

Chapter 17 – stupid pyromaniac!

"What?"

"I'm back in the tournament." Shinji repeated, holding back her emotions and watching for Hao's reaction. His face went hard as he stared at the oracle bell on the girls arm. How could he have missed that thing! He was grabbing onto her wrists only a minute ago and he hadn't even noticed it was there!

"How?" he asked, not really trusting himself to say much more in his current state. He felt confused, angry, and most of all betrayed.

"I fought three of the patch officials and won, that got me back in."

"It was the master's idea." Rosie added helpfully.

"You're taking orders now? I thought you said you didn't want to be someone's lackey." He said bitterly, glaring at Shinji in disgust. She wouldn't help him but she was happy to jump through the hoops of this 'master' person?

"It's not like that Hao, I did this for myself. He was just the person who gave me the opportunity." Shinji replied defensively. Silence followed and the atmosphere was suffocating.

"So that's it then, you're making yourself my enemy." Hao finally said, his voice was quiet, but icy, so different to the usual fire in him.

"Just because I'm not one of your followers doesn't mean that I'm-"

"By joining the shaman tournament you become my enemy, just like every other shaman who opposes me. We will have to fight some time."

"I know that, but... can't we just stay like we were before until then? I don't want us to have to fight on bad terms. I want us to be equals so that we can fight our hardest and have no regret, no matter what happens. I don't want this to end whatever this thing is that we have. We need to support each other, don't you see that?"

He didn't answer, confusion swarming his mind, and she got impatient of waiting for a reply. "Fine then, have it your way. But when you finally decide to let go of your ego and grow up, come find me." She spat, storming off, Rosie following close behind.

Hao was left alone to his thoughts, and while he silently seethed in the clearing he didn't notice Nindie materialise beside him.

"You know I really don't like you," she said, catching his attention, "and if Shinji wasn't involved in all of this crap I would have left you're sorry ass to deal with this yourself. So you better listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. Shinji loves you. And even though she won't even admit it I know she does, and I'm pretty damn sure you love her too. So get off your bloody high horse and talk to her, because even though she's acting tough, inside she's breaking. And if I have to help her move on you can bet I will do it."

Nindie didn't bother to look over at him while she spoke, and didn't hover around when she finished speaking, disappearing in the usual ghost like fashion. But if she had, she would have seen the pure shock on Hao's face, and probably burst into a fit of laughter at how funny he looked. But then, she had her own imagination for that.

Meanwhile, back in patch village, Shinji was storming off towards her hotel room. A dark aura radiated from her body, and her mana so intense that most people avoided her like the plague. A pissed of shaman is a bad thing, but a strong, pissed off female shaman who was practically rejected is a major hazard to any mans health. She couldn't believe how unreasonable he was, he was acting like a spoilt brat, and considering how old he really was, that was pretty pathetic. Rosie was almost jogging to keep up with her, the light blonde of her curls bounced around her shoulders and her cat plushie almost dragging across the floor.

"Miss Shinji, are you-"

"I'm fine!" Shinji growled, barely looking back at her sibling, but slowing her pace considerably, before stopping altogether. She lay her forehead against the stone wall of a building and heaved a great heavy sigh. "...I'm fine." She repeated quietly, trying to convince herself more than the little girl behind her.

"Hey, are you okay?" someone asked. She frowned. Why was everyone asking that! She spun around and glared at him.

"How many times do I have to say I'm fine? Now butt out!" she snapped, her eyes flashing to a deep blood read. But surprisingly, the guy only smiled at her lightly, seemingly unfazed by the change in eye colour, or her sudden outburst.

"You don't sound fine; do you want to talk about it? Sometimes it helps." he replied. She could see only warmth and concern in his deep brown eyes, and somehow felt suddenly at ease in his presence. But then something clicked in her mind and she noticed the striking resemblance to a certain someone. In that instant Shinji's water hardened to ice, and the jagged end of her makeshift blades tip was swiftly brought to the guy's throat before he even had time to blink.

"Who are you and why do look like Hao?" she asked, her voice as cold as the ice she had formed.

"Miss Shinji, please do not harm master Yoh, he is Hao's twin brother." Rosie said, and shinji almost dropped her weapon in shock.

"TWIN BROTHER? Ah I'm going to kill that bastard! You'd think he would have told me something like that, the stupid ass hole!" Shinji cried in frustration, before realizing that she had been waving her blade in Yoh's face, "oops sorry," she said letting the ice turn back into water and wrapping around her arm before freezing again, "I'm just a little pissed that the jack ass didn't tell me about you."

He laughed, "That's ok. So are you one of Hao's followers? You don't really seem like... uh..."

"The lap dog type?" she finished for him, "your right. No way would I be one of his brain dead lackeys. Nah, we just go way back. Way way way back. He's still an insufferable egotistic prat, though if you ask me. Oh wait; are you one of his followers?""

"Nope" he replied.

"Ah so I'm guessing you're the next one the Asakura's have sent to beat him huh?"

"Yeah you could say that. What about you? How do you know Hao?" he asked, and Shinji opened her mouth to answer but someone beat her to it.

"Shinji was there five hundred years ago when your ancestor defeated Hao, she also aided him in the battle against Hao's evil."

The water shaman noticed a dark, serious look appear on Yoh's face as his eyes fell behind her, but she didn't have to look around to know who was speaking. Marco of the Xlaws stood not far behind her, his arms folded and a sour expression on his face.

"Marco." She greeted, a strained civil smile on her face as she turned to him.

"The iron maiden Jeanne wishes to speak to you this evening. She will meet you at the patch cafe at seven. Don't be late." He replied stonily, and then, without another word he turned around and walked away.

_Hey guys, sorry this chapters up pretty late in the day (over here in England its 11.45pm) I ended up doing a photo shoot 4 a friend and it took up more time than I expected . well anyway, the next chapter will b up shortly ^^_


	18. C18 A new team mate

_Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang ._

_Expect some violence, swearing, and funny._

Chapter 18- a new team mate

"Well wasn't he a pleasant little sour puss." Shinji remarked, frowning as she watched Marco's lean frame disappear amongst the crowd.

"Miss Shinji, are you going to meet the iron maiden?" Rosie asked, a slight curiosity in her voice, and Shinji smiled.

"Unfortunately I have to Rosie; there are a few things I need to discuss with her."

Rosie nodded lightly, "Then if it is not too much trouble could we possibly try to find our third team mate soon? We have few hours before the appointed meeting time."

"Ah, good point." Shinji said realising it was already four fifteen. She had a good month before she had to have a full team, but the longer she left it the harder it was to find someone worth partnering up with. She turned to Yoh and smiled apologetically. "Sorry Yoh, but we really need to get going. Thanks for the talk; it was, uh...nice. And sorry about almost killing you."

Yoh laughed lightly, and smiled. "It's all right. Good luck finding a team mate."

"Thanks. I'll see you around?"

"Sure."

"This is ridiculous, we've been searching for hours and either all the strong shaman are in teams already, or their so weak it's amazing that they've made it this far! Rosie what should we do?" Shinji whined.

The little blonde girl looked over at her blankly and sighed. Sometimes it was hard to believe that Shinji was the older sibling.

"Did you not make a single acquaintance during the time of the shaman fight?" Rosie asked.

"Not any new ones... or nice ones." Shinji replied, frowning slightly as she thought of a certain egotistic fire shaman. Rosie sighed again. It seemed she was going to be doing a lot of that lately.

"Ah wait a second, there might be someone!" Shinji suddenly perked up, grabbing Rosie's hand and dragging her towards the nearby forest. Once safely hidden within the shelter of the trees from any passersby she released her sister's hand and turned towards her, resting her hands on the little girls shoulders and dropping down onto one knee so she could look straight into her big amber eyes. "Now listen Rosie, what you are about to see you defiantly can NOT tell the master about, understand? It would be really bad news for me if he knew."

"Do not fear miss Shinji, I will keep your friends secret safe. You have my word." Rosie replied, the smallest of smiles curving the corner of her lips. Shinji smiled gratefully and patted the girl on the head. Rosie could be strangely perceptive at times, but Shinji knew she could trust her.

"Thanks." Shinji replied, getting to her feet, "And another thing, quit calling me miss all the time, I'm your sister after all, it's a little weird."

Rosie nodded, her blonde curls bouncing as she did so, and Shinji found herself smiling again as she turned faced the wilderness. She breathed deeply, releasing the tension in her body that she hadn't noticed before, and let her voice carry out through the trees.

"Kekki."

At first there was nothing, the birds sang as usual and the breeze languidly stroked their faces, but then darkness seemed to come over the forest and everything stilled. From the shadows, a shape began to take form, moving stealthily towards them. Rosie felt a pressure surrounding them, and looked over to her elder sibling for reassurance, but Shinji's face was uncharacteristically blank, and she made no attempt to move away from the creature forming not a few feet away from her. Darkness turned into thick black fur, matted with moss and grime, and in a moment a large dog was standing before them, its mouth pulled back into a wolfish grin that showed off its gleaming fangs.

"Mistress." The creature growled deeply, bowing its head slightly at Shinji, "you have summoned me?"

"Yeah, I have a favour to ask." Shinji replied, a light smile gracing her lips as she looked down at her old friend. It was strange, she had only seen him a few months ago but she was sure he had somehow gotten bigger.

"I am glad to be of service." Was his reply.

"Cool. So you're in the tournament right?" she asked hopefully. Her eyes lit up when he lifted his right paw and attached to his leg was a moss green oracle bell, "Great! So do you have a team yet?"

Kekki shook his head. "I am not fond of people mistress, and most find me intimidating."

Shinji nodded in understanding. The big dog was a rather intimidating creature, and he emitted a rather strong demonic aura that could be overbearing to some people. But Shinji was not one of those people. Despite the bad reputation his kind had she knew he was not a bad person, and that was all she needed to know.

"Awesome! Er, I mean... well you know what I mean."

Kekki chuckled, "Do not worry mistress; I know that there is no malice in your words."

"Great, well what I meant to say was that since you don't have a team yet why don't you, you know, join us?"

"I would be honoured."

"Yay!" Shinji cheered, "This is great! We have a full team now Rosie!" she said, grinning at her silent little sister.

Kekki's great head turned towards the little girl, his bright jade gaze filled with curiosity.

"Might this be our other team member mistress?" he asked, his large grin growing wider.

"Now Kekki, don't even think about turning Rosie into a midnight snack while I'm asleep tonight." She teased, earning a startled look from the little blonde.

"The thought had not even crossed my mind mistress. I do not bear my fangs at the young and innocent. Besides, I have already eaten today." He replied reassuringly.

Shinji laughed lightly, but Rosie still felt weary. She was unsure if this was a serious conversation or not, and although there was a hearty sound to Shinji's voice, she couldn't help but note the undertone of warning when she spoke. Rosie was determined to find out more about the creature who had now become their team mate, but for now it would have to wait.

"Mi- uh... Shinji, it is almost time for you to meet the iron maiden. Perhaps we should head towards the cafe?" she suggested.

A look of dread crossed Shinji's face. She was not looking forward to meeting Jeanne again. It wasn't that she held a grudge against the girl after Jeanne practically threatened to kill her, she was over that, but unfortunately she had agreed to be a kind of double agent to Hao. And she didn't want to see him anytime soon. But she had given her word, and wasn't going to back out because of a petty argument by not give him the heads up on what the Xlaws were planning. Someone had to be mature about the whole thing, even if it would have been a hell of a lot easier not to.

"Yeah I guess you're right." Shinji sighed, "But Kekki, do you think you could switch forms? It would save answering a lode of questions."

"Ah yes, I see your point. However there is a slight problem. I have no clothes."

Shinji felt her face flush. "Oh right... that is a problem. Uhh..."

"It's no problem; I saw this coming and brought him some." Nindie said, appearing from nowhere.

"Ah, Nindie, where have you been all day?" Shinji asked, looking over at her ghostly friend.

"Here and there. More importantly, shouldn't we get going?"

"Right, okay. Rosie, we should probably turn around for a sec so Kekki can, uh... do his thing." Shinji said, holding onto the little girls shoulders and spinning her around so she was they were both facing the other way. There was a flash of green behind them, and not long after Kekki spoke.

"I am decent, you can look now."

The three girls turned to see the tall muscular frame of a man standing where the dog once was. His hair, much like Kekki's fur, was midnight black and flecked with green, and his eyes shone a brilliant jade. He smiled a dazzling toothy grin that was unmistakeably a trademark of Kekki's. Shinji found herself grinning back, barely able to contain her laughter when she took in what he was wearing. A plain white shirt, left open to reveal his toned abs and caramel skin with the sleeves ripped off to accommodate his rather large biceps. This was all fine and dandy, and actually suited him pretty well, but it was his trousers that made her laugh.

"Pft, where did you get them?" Shinji said, hiding her laughter behind her hand and pointing at his trousers with the other. Nindie grinned.

"Hao's tent. I stole them earlier and turned them into shorts so Kekki would be more comfortable."

"That is just awesome. But you know he is totally going to freak when he finds out."

"I know, that's another reason why I did it."

"You are an evil genius my friend."

"I know." Nindie said triumphantly, "Now shouldn't we get going? Marco's gunna be pissed if we keep old Jeanne in a box waiting."

"Yeah yeah okay, but I'll have you know that I really don't want to do this."

"None of us do, so let's get it over with already."

"fine."

_Hey people, unfortunately there might only be one chapter up next week. I have art and photography coursework due in 2 weeks and I've done practically none of it .sorry. But if I can find the time I will try 2 get 2 done, if not I'll try and do 3 chapters for the next week to make up 4 it ^^_


	19. C19 weakness

_Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang ._

_Expect some violence, swearing, and funny._

Chapter 19 – Weakness 

Rosie found herself in a more than awkward position. It was quarter past seven, and the group found themselves sat in a booth at patch cafe, facing a few of the xlaws and their leader across the table. Inevitably they were late, and now Shinji and Marco seemed to be having a glaring contest, while the green haired boy Lyserg openly gawked at the sheer size of Kekki, and Jeanne sat pleasantly between him and the blonde four eyed man. Rosie sighed and shifted slightly in what little space she had squashed between her sister and Kekki. This was going to take longer than she thought.

"Shinji, I don't think I have met your team members before." Jeanne said sweetly, her little voice breaking the sever silence that had settled in the room. Oddly enough there wasn't a soul in the cafe, which was strange considering it was normally packed, especially at rush hour.

Shinji tore her gaze away from Marco and smiled at the girl.

"Yeah that's right. This is my friend Kekki, and my little sister Rosie." She replied, noticing the other's ruby eyes light up in response.

"Oh, I didn't know you have relatives."

"Yeah well they're all the decedents of my sister. I mean, you know, the one from my first life. Not Rosie."

"I see. Are they competing in the tournament?"

"I don't know. Were not exactly a close family." She half lied. She was pretty sure there would be at least a few in the tournament encase she screwed up in becoming shaman queen and got her ass fried, that's just how the master worked. Always with a backup plan, and always using people in his games. But she had told the truth when she said her family wasn't close. The majority of them were weary of her, and the rest were either arrogant bastards or had the same unemotional attitude that Rosie had. Shinji loved her sister dearly, but she was determined to break the little girl's rigid exterior and get her to act her age, but she figured that was just a matter of time. For now however she had another girl to deal with. "So what is it you wanted to talk to me about Jeanne?"

A small frown appeared on the iron maiden's face.

"We wanted to know if you had noticed anything about Hao during your time with him. Like any weaknesses he might have?"

Shinji smiled inwardly. It seemed the xlaws were becoming desperate if they had to resort to tactics like this. But they were out of luck. The current Hao had no weakness. If it were that simple then Shinji would have been able to beat him already.

"He has no weakness. His control over the elements is greater than mine, either because his mana is simply greater or because he was able to master the unity star better, I'm not sure which.

His combat skills are superb with both a strong offence and defence, and on the off chance that someone is lucky enough to hit him he has the ability to heal himself, so physical attacks are near worthless unless you're strong enough to battle it out around until he runs out of mana, which is pretty much never going to happen. You could try using one ultra powerful move, but unless all of the xlaws power combined adds up to something stronger, or if not equal to his then there's no point in trying. His mind reading also gives him an advantage because he'll be able to tell what you're going to do before you do it, and by the time you actually manage to pull off an attack he will have already dodged and countered.

If you want to attack him on an emotional level then you'd have a hard time because there is nothing that he had that he wouldn't sacrifice to be Shaman King, be that friends, family or followers. The only way I can realistically see you beating him is if you know him inside and out, and train your asses off to have something even close to the power he has. Either that or pray for a miracle. "Shinji explained, leaning back on her chair once her speech was over.

There were mixed emotions on the xlaws faces. Lyserg had a slightly horrified expression, and his bright green eyes seemed to dim with the thought of how hopeless the situation really was. Jeanne's features were set into a serious frown, and she looked as if she was thinking deeply. Marco on the over hand was boiling over with rage. How dare this girl come here and practically tell them their efforts were futile! It was like she was telling them to give up and let the evil demon to win, because nothing they could do would be able to stop him. He would not stand for such weak minded thoughts to cloud the judgment of his Jeanne-sama. The sound of his hands smashing down on the flimsy wooden table was enough to make them all jump, and he glared fire at Shinji.

"You have no right to judge us so! We will defeat Hao, and Jeanne-sama will become the shaman king! You are just trying to manipulate us with your words into giving up. Admit it; you are one of Hao's followers. What other reason would that demon tolerate you're presence?" he practically yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the water shaman, who sat stone faced and emotionless throughout his outburst.

Kekki found it hard to restrain himself. How he wanted to rip the man's throat out for the rudeness towards his mistress. Clearly he had no respect for who she was, nor her power. He was the type of person he would have hunted. But it was Jeanne who silenced him.

"Enough Marco, you aren't thinking straight. I am grateful you come to the xlaws defence, but you are mistaken in Shinji's intentions. Hao tolerates Shinji's presence because she is powerful and because he believes she is one of his followers, but we already know she is not. And as discouraging as it is to hear that our enemy has no weakness, Shinji is just stating it as she sees it from her perspective as someone who has fought Hao in the past so that we do not make the mistakes that she has learned from, correct?"

Shinji was surprise. After their previous encounter she had believed the Xlaws leader to be as simple minded as her followers, and expected her to follow suit in Marco's accusations. She hadn't expected the girl to come to her defence.

"Jeanne-sama is right Marco. I've spoken with Shinji before and I know she isn't a bad person." Lyserg pitched in, "Besides, she saved Jeanne-sama's life and sacrificed herself so that we would all be safe. You know Hao would have killed us if it wasn't for her."

Shinji found herself smiling at the boy. She was really starting to like him. Marco on the other hand was still and ass, but at least he was silent, glaring daggers at the table instead of at her, with his arms folded in a child like manner. Shinji resisted the urge to chuckle at his behaviour, and the room went silent again as Jeanne went deep in thought. Eventually she spoke.

"Shinji, do you know what Hao's spirit medium is?"

That question threw her for a moment. Shinji had never really thought of that before, and she had to admire the girl for thinking of it. She guessed it would be something similar to hers, simply because they both used the power of the elements, and she had never actually seen what it was. For speed and resourcefulness, Shinji used the water vapour in the air as her medium, so it was only really a short jump from that for her to find out what his was. She just had to figure out what fire needed. Too bad she sucked at science. Thanks to being born in 20'th Century England it was the law for her new parents to either send her to school or get a private tutor and be homeschooled. They went with the tutor option. It gave her more time to train, and less time messing around with the idiots of the current age group.

"I'm not sure," she replied, "but I can find out."

Jeanne's eyes lit up at the news, and Shinji half expected her to reach over the table and kiss her with how excited she seemed.

"Oh, thank you so much Shinji! It would be a big help to us in our dream in destroying the evil and bringing peace to the world."

"It's fine, I'm a little curious myself." Shinji admitted, despite the problems that curiosity would cause her later on. Shinji knew she was playing with fire. On one hand she was supposed to be giving info on whatever the xlaws were planning to Hao (who she was currently not speaking to) and at the same time she was suppose to be giving the xlaws info on him. The problem was how much information she was willing to give. Was giving the xlaws Hao's weakness too much for them to know? Because that what his medium was, his weakness. But then, even with something like that revealed, Hao was strong enough to fend off any attack the xlaws would make, right? She could always find out to sate her own curiosity, and then tell the xlaws something else, but then she hated to lie at the best of times, and even if she did do that she was putting the xlaws at danger if they tried anything. It was all just so much hassle, and her personal feelings weren't helping with the matter. She might hate Hao right now, but annoyingly she still didn't want him to be hurt. She knew that eventually it was bound to happen, Hao was right after all, there can be only one Shaman king.

It was these thoughts that Shinji carried with her as she left the cafe and headed for her temporary home, her team mates following close behind.

_Hey guys, like I said before its only going to be this one chapter this week because of all the cw I have to hand it. It turns out I have to give most of it on Tuesday now instead of Friday, so I'm really screwed XP. Anyway hope u liked it ^^ please R&R xx_


	20. C20 the truth

_Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang ._

_Expect some violence, swearing, and funny._

**So since some people add anonymous reviews (well okay, only 1 really) I decided to reply to all of your comments at the beginning of each chapter ^^**

**zaza98able: **lol don't worry, I don't mind, after all a good review is an honest one. Besides, the xlaws seriously tick me off sometimes too, but it wouldn't be the same if I left them out completely, after all, everyone needs some kinda bad guy in a story, who else can I take the piss out of? Lol. Well anyway, u'll b happy to know that they aren't in this chapter, only mentioned a little bit ^^ and I'm really glad you like my story.

**Princesa de la Luna: **thanks for always reviewing so diligently, I wish I had 20 more like you ^^

**And to everyone else: ** the next chapter should be up in a few hours, at the mo I'm still in the process of writing it ^^

Chapter 20 – the truth

Shinji frowned, a solemn expression dominating her face as she looked between the trees at the few tents within the clearing. Her gut was tight with knots at the thought of speaking to Hao again. She was still mad at him, but what she hadn't thought of was if he was still mad at her. It was going to be hard enough speaking to him as it was, but the whole situation would just be so much worse if he was throwing around sarcastic remarks, or worse, fireballs. She had left her team mates back at home, telling them that it was something she was going to have to deal with on her own. She didn't want them around if things got ugly. It was one thing having to watch your own back, but it was so much harder having to watch others in the process. Nindie was with her though, carefully keeping herself hidden from sight in the usual ghostly fashion and keeping a watchful eye on things.

Shinji took a deep breath, calming her nerves. Standing around here would get her nowhere, so she gave her head a shake, and stepped out from the shelter of the trees and into the camp. She cursed herself mentally when she noticed all the heads turn towards her. She had forgotten about Hao's followers.

"Who the hell are you?" a blue haired woman asked. She looked to be in her twenties, and she was frowning darkly at Shinji.

"Why are you bothering to even ask Kanna? She shouldn't be here and that's all that matters." A red head with pigtails piped up.

"Maybe she got lost" a depressed looking blonde said calmly, absently fiddling with the creepy looking doll in her lap.

"Well whatever her reason she should not be here. You should leave here girl." A priestly looking man said, getting to his feet.

"Yeah, this isn't somewhere a little girl like you should be." A crazy guy in a sombrero joined in.

Shinji raised an eyebrow. Honestly they were a lot nicer than she had expected, she thought they would have attacked first and asked questions later, and instead they simply thought she was a lost girl and were warning her to leave. Of course they were still a bit rude, but what would you expect from a bunchy of crazed Hao followers? That 'little girl' comment had made her eye twitch a little though.

"Hao wouldn't be happy if he saw a random kid wondering around camp"

*Twitch* kid?

"Shouldn't a child be in bed at this time anyway?"

*twitch twitch* child? Bed?

"Yeah, where her mommy can read her a bedtime story, haha."

BEDTIME STORY? Oh hell that was it.

Shinji was fuming. How dare they insult her like that! She might look fifteen in her current body, but she was older than all those idiots put together. Normally she wouldn't give a crap about something like that, but she was really not in the mood and Hao's moronic followers had just pushed her too far.

She snapped.

"Wanna try saying that again you fucking retarded fat ass?" she growled, glaring daggers at the fat bastard that had spoken last. His eyes whet wide in shock, but he recovered quickly.

"You stupid fucking-" Shinji cut him off by lobbing an ice dagger at his fat head, slicing his cheek open. Hao's followers all brought out their over souls out at the sudden attack, and Shinji smirked devilishly.

"Nindie."

Suddenly Nindie was there in her giant water spirit form, towering over the group menacingly.

"Still wanna try me you pathetic bastards?" Shinji said mockingly, watching them all step back in confusion. She knew what they were thinking, even without Hao's mind reading ability. They wanted to know who the hell she was, and why she had a spirit like Hao's.

"Shinji"

Well speak of the devil and his head may rise. Hao was standing on the other side of the clearing with a similar confused look to his followers. And then Shinji remembered what she was doing there in the first place. What was she doing starting fights? Wasn't that exactly the thing she had been trying not to do before the idiotic groupies started insulting her. She took back the comment about them being nice. They were all assholes.

Nindie's huge form faded away, and Shinji closed her reddened eyes and took a cleansing breath. She was getting too worked up. She needed to calm down. When she opened them, her orbs were back to their usual cool blue.

"Hao." She replied indifferently.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, walking towards her with his face carefully blank.

"Well I was coming here to tell you about Jeanne, when these idiots started insulting me." She spat. _Woops, losing my cool again. Calm down._ She mentally scolded herself.

His eyes narrowed, at the idiot comment or the mention at Jeanne she wasn't really sure, but it was a little unnerving none the less. Not that she would ever tell him that. Nope, right now she was keeping her mind carefully guarded, locking down the wall on her thoughts. Maybe that was why he was so pissed off? Because she was the able to get around his little trump card.

"Leave us." Hao commanded, his eyes not once leaving her. Shinji gave him a confused look, but then the little o shape with her mouth when she saw all of his followers disbanding into the forest. Once the clearing was empty of any extra guests, Hao broke eye contact and moved to sit by the fire, lazily watching the flames burn.

"So you were saying? About Jeanne?" he said. There was something off about his voice, he sounded... almost formal. It was unnatural to say the least.

"Yeah," Shinji said, ignoring his abnormal behaviour. She just wanted to get this over with and head home. The less time she had to be with the fire shaman the better. "We met up at patch cafe about an hour ago. She was asking questions about you."

"Such as?"

"What your weaknesses are, you know that kinda thing."

"And what did you tell her?"

"That you had none."

Hao smirked at that.

"I bet they weren't happy."

"Not really. I thought Marco was going to leap across the table and stab me with a fork cuz of all the glares he kept shooting me." She said, grinning slightly at the funny images going through her head.

"Did she ask anything else?"

"Yeah, she wanted to know what your spirit medium is, but I told her I didn't know. She wants me to find out."

Hao raised an eyebrow, finally pulling his gaze from the fire to give her a shocked look.

"Do you really not know what it is?"

"Yes."

"Is that yes you don't know, or yes you do?"

"Yes I don't know."

He smirked.

"You really are an idiot."

"Hey! I resent that! Besides, I bet you don't know mine."

"Water vapour." He said smugly.

"Damn."

"Honestly I'm surprised. Our methods are practically the same after all. It should be simple, even for an idiot like you."

"Enough with the insults already!"

"Well it's true. How someone as stupid as you could mater all points of the unity star is beyond me."

"You know what? I'm not going to put up with your bull shit. I'm leaving." Shinji cried, turning around and stomping towards the edge of the clearing, only to be stopped by a hand gripping her wrist in an iron grip.

"Wait."

"What?" she snapped, turning to glare at Hao.

"We need to talk. About this morning." He said firmly, holding her gaze with his. Her eyes flickered between colours as shock spread across her features, until finally bleeding red into the calm blue. She was fed up with his games. She just couldn't deal with it right now.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Wrenching her wrist from his hold, she turned to walk away. Suddenly, arms were wrapped around her waist, pulling her back against a strong, hard chest, while Hao buried his face in her neck. Shinji stiffened at the unexpected hold, and a blush rapidly blossomed across her face.

"Don't go." The words were spoken so softly that were his lips not far from her ear she would have missed it. Even so it was still hard to believe.

"What?" she asked in disbelief.

"Don't make me say it again."

"Sorry I think I need my head examined, it sounded like you said don't go, but that's way to girly to be said by you of all people."

He frowned. "Do you always have to make a joke out of things?"

"Pretty much"

She felt him sigh against her neck as he pulled away, leaving her free to turn around and face him.

"I'm serious you know. I don't want you to leave."

"Well sorry, but I have a team to get back to. I _am_ back in the shaman tournament you know. Or have you forgotten that?" she replied bitterly.

"I know that."

"Then why are you bothering to talk to me? You said yourself that I'm the enemy now."

"Well if you're so pissed at me then why bother telling me about Jeanne? Why not just let her try to kill me?"

"Well I like to keep my promises. I told you I would give you a heads up on what she's planning, and that's what I intend to do, even if I have to deal with assholeish bastards in the process! Do you have any idea how much I hate that bastard Marco? And then I come here and all your dumb ass groupies start harassing me too! And then you turn around and start calling me stupid! Well you know what? Your stupid, and your an ass hole, and I hate you! "

Hao's eyes went wide with shock.

"You... hate me?"

"Your damn right I do! Your arrogant, self centred, always calling me names, think you're the best, you're always going on about what you want and never what I want, you have horrible taste in clothes, and half the time you're running around topless and showing off those big ass muscles of your, and then you keep doing weird things that make my brain fuck up, and making my eyes go all pink, and you never stop smirking and – see your even smirking now! Why are you smirking? Gaah that's it, I'm leaving! And I'm never coming back. So there!"

"You have to come back."

"Why the hell would I ever have to come back here?" she snapped.

"Because you still need to know what my medium is." He replied smugly.

"Damn you Hao, I really really hate you! GOOD BYE!" She cried, stomping off into the forest.

Hao chuckled as he watched her leave. He wasn't worried. She would be back. After all, he knew the truth after her last outburst, even if she didn't. Every time she said she hates him, it was clear that what she really meant was...

She loves him.

xxx

So, yeh, like I said before, gimme a couple of hours to finish writing and the next chapter should be up ^^


	21. C21 uninvited guest

_Hey people, sorry this chapter is so late. My friend came over unexpectedly yesterday cuz she was bored and her pc decided to die on her just as the half term holidays started, and since I have this thing where I hate writing in front of people we ended up watching the 1__st__ sex and the city movie and doing a load of crap until late. And then today I had to go into town and sort out my dad's b-day prezzy, so I've only really just been able to finish writing it, so u know, my bad._

_Also I have my final English exam next Tuesday, and I have a crap load of revision (ugh) to do cuz last time I took it I got a U (ungraded), which is actually worse than an F lol. so yeah, as you may guess I'm only going to post 1 chapter next week due to the heavy amount of work I'm gunna have 2 do 2 get a good grade. Sorry guys. But the good news is that after that exam I have no more! So I will defo meet all of my deadlines after that._

_Anywayz..._

**Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .**

**Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.**

Chapter 21- uninvited guest

"I hate heights" Kekki said, his eyes looking out the window at the ocean miles below. The next round of the shaman fight had started, and with it came a new destination. They were currently in one of the many patche helicopters headed towards a small island off the coast of Japan, the place that would soon be their new home. It was a little annoying having travelled all the way from Japan to America just to travel all the way back again, but at least this generation had much faster means of transport than they did five hundred years ago.

"Well we could have travelled here by boat, but then you would get sea sick." Shinji said to Kekki with a smile.

"I am sorry mistress, but being a creature of earth I am happiest on land."

"Well what I want to know is how the patch managed to get air clearance for all of these helicopters." She wondered, shooting a meaning full glance at their pilot. "And how they managed to afford everything."

"The helicopters are all created through the mana of the pilots, just like the jumbo jet that dropped you off in America." The pilot explained helpfully.

"I didn't go on the jet; I had to make my own way here thanks to a certain bastard."

"Oh, well... because they are created my mana they are all invisible to the average human eye, and they don't cost a thing."

"Ah I see, and that way you can get everyone here in secret, right?"

"Exactly."

"Cool."

It wasn't long before the helicopter landed, and the team was shown to their accommodations for their time on the island. They would be staying in a three bedroom lodge, conveniently placed beside a small lake in the middle of the wilderness. It suited the needs of all three perfectly. Shinji would be able to do some long overdue training by the lake, Kekki would be able to get in touch with his inner beast while roaming the forest, and Rosie, being the anti social girl that she is, would be able to do whatever it is Rosie's do in the quiet seclusion of the house. There was just one drawback...

"Oh hell, what are you doing here?" Shinji cried, pointing an accusing finger at the uninvited guest.

She was currently stood knee deep in lake water, her jeans rolled up to her middle thigh, and completely soaking wet thanks to the huge floating ball she was playing with before she had seen a certain pyro by the water's edge. Needless to say, she ended up dropping it over her head in shock, and now she was not a very happy shaman.

Hao was smirking at her, obviously trying to hold in his laughter due to the fierce glare she had shot him.

"I was just exploring the area around my camp, and happened to stumble upon this place. That's all." He replied innocently.

"Ah no, don't tell me your staying near here?"

He nodded.

"Damn it! You did this on purpose didn't you? You decided that since I refused to come back you would stalk me again instead! Ah this is unbelievable! You know most people would get the hint and piss off when they're told that they're hated, but no, you just had to be a stubborn bastard didn't you?" she yelled, flapping her arms around in agitation and sending water shooting around in all directions.

"Ah it's good to know you've begun to control your anger." He answered sarcastically.

"Fuck you Hao!"

He smirked. "You wish."

"Oh that's disgusting, you're disgusting! Just go away already." She said, stomping out of the lake and shaking the water out of her hair before trudging back towards the lodge. She flung the door open, ignored the fact that Hao was still following her and that Rosie was sat on the floor of the living room with a confused look on her face, marched into her room, and slammed the door shut behind her.

Rosie and Hao stared at the door for a moment, before Rosie turned her gaze back to the fire shaman.

"Hello Hao." She greeted indifferently.

Hao nodded in response.

"Rosie, don't be civil with that bastard! Tell him to piss off!" Shinji called from her room.

"Shinji would like for me to tell you to pi-"

"No wait, Rosie don't say that! You're not old enough to swear! Just tell him to get lost!"

"All right, Shinji would like for you to get lost." She repeated.

Hao chuckled at that. "Well then Rosie, could you tell Shinji that I don't feel like leaving just yet?"

"Hao said that he does not feel like leaving just yet."

"Well you can tell Hao that he's an as- I mean a big meanie and he's not welcome here."

"Shinji said-"

"Yes Rosie, I heard what she said. Would you mind going out to play for a while? I would like to talk to Shinji in private." He asked pleasantly.

Rosie nodded and picked up her cat plushie. "All right, but if I walk in and find you both making out I am not going to cook tonight." She threatened, walking out of the house and closing the door behind her.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room, and Hao found himself staring at the door to Shinji's room.

"You know you're going to have to come out sometime." He called.

"I will. When you're gone." Came the stubborn reply.

"Then how are you going to find out what my medium is if you don't ever see me?"

"I can work it out perfectly fine from in here!"

"Really?"

"Yes really."

Hao smirked and walked towards the door, reaching out for the handle when Shinji voice snapped out from the other side:

"Don't even try it! I'm not letting you in."

"Is that so?"

"Your damn right!"

Hao's smirk grew. He was always up for a challenge. In an instant fire consumed him, and he had teleported himself into her room.

Shinji jumped at the sudden sight of him, and then a frown etched into her pretty face. She was sat in front of the door in the futile attempt to keep the bastard out, and there he was, effortlessly invading her personal space, with the same arrogant smirk on his face that drove her completely insane. Was the idea of privacy a foreign concept to this guy?

"Did you really think sitting there would keep me out?" he mocked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well it's not like I have a lock for this door. And besides, most decent People take the hint and piss off when I tell them to."

"Well I guess I'm not most decent people am I."

"You're not decent, period."

"Touché."

"What are you doing here Hao? Don't you have other people to bother? Don't your fan club miss you when you're not around?"

"I suppose they do, but I think it's more important for me to be here don't you think?"

Shinji sighed, rubbing at her oncoming migraine. "Will you please, just go away Hao? I'm really not in the mood for your games right now."

"All right then, I'll make you a deal." Hao said, catching Shinji's full attention.

Shinji gave him a suspicious look. "What kind of deal?"

"If you can figure out what my medium is before nightfall tomorrow, then I will only come around and bother you when it's completely necessary."

"And if I can't?"

"Then I come over whenever I want, and you have to put up with it without complaining."

Shinji thought about it for a moment. It would kill her not to complain if she lost, but since he was obviously going to come around all the time if she didn't accept the challenge then there wasn't really much to lose, and almost everything to gain. But did she really not want to see him?

"Alright, I'll do it."

Hao smiled secretly, and suddenly she wasn't so sure anymore. But there was no way she was going to back down now. She would take whatever he could throw at her, and she would win.


	22. C22 a really odd day

_Wow long time no see people! Sorry for my sever lack in updates, I had a huge case of writers block, and let me tell you, it was not fun. But to make up for my neglect ion, this will be one reaaaaaaally long chapter. It's funny, after having such a hard time writing all of a sudden I know exactly how this story is going to turn out (which before I was pretty much as clueless as the rest of you guys). So in light of my random epiphany the newer chapters will probably be longer than my older ones, and defiantly longer than my first XP. From now on though I will be updating 2 chapters on the first of every month, rather than every Sunday because, let's face it; I was terrible at doing that. I figured this would be a lot easier for me, and will hopefully stop me from getting writers block and not writing for bloody ages all over again._

_So anywayz..._

Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .

Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.

Chapter 22 – A really odd day

To say the situation was awkward would be an understatement to say the least. Silence was heavy in the room. Shinji was occupying all of her time glaring at Hao, while he was happily staring back with the same old smug smirk on his face. Rosie sighed, shaking her head as she looked between the two. It was seriously getting ridiculous. They had been staring at each other for over half an hour already and neither one of them had said a thing. But it was obvious what they were thinking – or at to Rosie it was. Shinji in the mean time was clueless, and it was driving her crazy.

'_What the hell is going on in his tiny little brain? Does he just enjoy pissing me around? I mean seriously, I tell the guy I hate him and the next bloody day he just decides to come over here and bug the living hell out of me! Stupid bastard! Stupid me for agreeing to his stupid deal. I should have just kicked his ass already and thrown him out. So why haven't I? Oh yeah, stupid me has to be stupid and stupidly hate going against my word. Man I'm such a stupid head! I really have to stop saying stupid._

While shinji was having her own little internal monologue, Hao was watching the emotions crossing across her face in mild amusement, but her eyes made him curious, flicking between red, pink and purple. He had noticed it before, and was pretty sure it had something to do with her emotions, making her a lot easier to read when she uses her little mind blocking trick. But that still didn't really explain how. She was defiantly the first person he had ever heard of with such eyes. Even with his extensive travels Hao had never met another person like Shinji. Maybe that was why he was so attracted to her- because even he had to admit the attraction at this stage – or was it simply the power? After all the only people he was ever interested in always had a pretty good amount of mana, but hers far surpassed anyone else's. Then again it could also be a physical thing. After all she defiantly wasn't a she-hulk, and was actually quite pretty with her delicate skin and fair hair. She didn't bother layering herself in tons of makeup, which was good because Hao hated the stuff; it was just so...human. Besides it would be completely impractical considering the lifestyle she led. She was a fighter, not a Barbie doll.

Shinji caught the flicker of something in Hao's eyes and her glare lessoned considerably, her eyes settling to purple as a confused expression crossed her face. Was that warmth she was seeing? No, that's insane. Hao wasn't capable of warmth. Though even she had to admit the expression suited him. Butterfly's blossomed in her stomach and she instantly cursed herself for the thought. No point having any fuzzy feelings now, they were enemies, he had said that himself.

'_So why is he here?'_

"Why do your eyes change colour like that?" Hao asked bluntly, breaking the awkward silence of the room.

Shinji was startled by the sudden question, but then her eyes narrowed dangerously and bled into red.

'_What so he won't tell me something as simple as his medium but expects me to share my whole friggin life story? As if!'_

"Mind your own business." She growled, flopping back in her chair, crossing her arms puffing out her cheeks in aggravation.

Hao laughed lightly at her childish behaviour.

"You look like a hamster." He stated smugly, slowly leaning back in his own chair and carelessly resting his head on his fist.

"And you look like an asshole, but that's probably because you are one."

"Well you-"

"Dinners ready!" Rosie interrupted, placing a large bowl of spaghetti bolognaise in the middle of the table and sitting down beside her sibling.

Shinji's eyes went wide, turning gold as she practically jumped up in her seat, "food!" she cried, forgetting all about the fight she had previously been getting into and diving for the bowl, scooping a hefty helping onto her plate and chowing down. Hao couldn't help but smile. She was eating as if he hadn't been fed in a week, sauce smearing all over her face, and more than one noodle stuck in her hair.

"You eat like a pig." He said.

Shinji stopped and glared at him, which was less intimidating than it sounded with the spaghetti hanging from her mouth and dripping down her chin. She swallowed, licking her luscious lips and smirked devilishly.

"At least I don't look like one, pig." She retorted, before ignoring him once again and turning her attention back to her meal.

Hao chuckled lightly and started on his own meal. It was then that Kekki decided to make his appearance, barging through the front door and making the room seem considerably smaller with his large form filling the space, but thankfully he was in his human form. Three sets of eyes turned to look at him, and Hao almost demanded to know who he was ad what he was doing here, but then he noticed that shinji hadn't made a move to do either of those things and realized this must be the third team member. Kekki grinned wolfishly at the group, his emerald eyes taking note of a certain Asakura in the room.

"I brought dinner," he said, holding up two very dead rabbits up by the ears and watching in amusement the look of mild disgust crossing Shinji's face, "though I suppose you all won't be having any."

"Sorry Kekki, Rosie had us covered for dinner tonight. Thanks though." Shinji said, offering him an apologetic smile and silently thanking her sister for the blessed cooked meal.

"Its fine mistress shinji, you would only have cooked them anyway, and I prefer my meat raw." He assured her, stalking over to the kitchen and pulling out a large knife. Shinji turned away, not really wanting to watch the poor bunnies getting sliced and diced. For someone who belonged with the earth Kekki was pretty handy with sharp objects. She looked down at her own food, saw the red sauce smothering the noodles and instantly felt a whole lot less hungry. She pushed the plate away from her and stood up.

"Well I'm gunna go outside for a bit, do some training and what not." She explained.

"Okay" Rosie replied, completely unaffected by Kekki's display as she continued eating her meal. Morbid child.

"I think I'll join you." Hao said, pushing his own food away and getting up from his chair. Was it Shinji's imagination or was the great Hao Asakura looking a little pale? Not bothering to answer she quickly hurried of towards the door and wrenched it open, practically diving out into the open evening air with Hao close behind.

The two silently made their way towards the river bank, but to Hao's surprise shinji continued to walk even as she got to the edge, stepping straight onto the water's surface as if it were the most normal thing in the world and continuing on to the middle of the lake. She stopped when she realized Hao was not following her, and a cocky smirk slowly spread across her face when she saw him still on land.

"What's the matter Hao? Scared of a little water?" she mocked.

Hao, realizing that his surprised had stopped all motion in his legs, smirked back and confidently stepped onto the water, shooting Shinji his own cocky smirk as he walked towards her. Her smile dropped instantly, but then what did she expect, Hao had mastered all points of the unity star just like she had, of course he would be able to walk on water. It wasn't even that hard really.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" he asked feigning innocence.

Shinji huffed and turned her back to him, deciding she didn't want to see that damn smugness anymore. Instead she decided to focus on her training. That was the reason they were out there after all. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling her mana flowing through her body and arching around her like lightning. Her hair whipped around her, and the water itself even seemed to bow down to the pressure. But then, everything stilled. She let out the breath she was holding, and her body relaxed, her mana settling at her core like a tranquil pool. Slowly, she opened her eyes, taking in the differences around her. Everything was clearer, glowing with a living entity, each different and some dimmer than others. It was like being able to see clearly in a fog, unusual and exciting. She turned and looked towards Hao, noticed the shimmering red aura radiating from his skin and smiled. It was stronger and more vibrant than most peoples, something unique to him and him alone.

'_Although that's was probably because he has such a huge amount of mana,' _she thought logically, '_not because he's special or anything.'_

It was then that she noticed that the fire shaman was staring rather openly, his gaze trained directly onto her eyes.

They were blue, not her usual dusty blue but bright and vivid, almost glowing. Her pupils were gone, consumed by her living iris' that moved and flowed in the centre like rippling water. He had only seen those eyes once, right before she had struck the blow five hundred years ago that had killed him. They were both exceedingly beautiful and deadly. Hao instantly went on the defensive, and shinji chuckled lightly at the sudden seriousness crossing the fire shaman's face.

"Relax Hao; I didn't bring you here to kill you." She reassured, offering him a kind smile. Her voice was the same, and somehow that gave him comfort. Not that he was scared or anything. The great Hao Asakura's wasn't afraid of anything. It just made him feel that shinji was still herself, the one he knows now, not the one from back then.

"Don't you mean _try_ to kill me? You wouldn't be able to succeed this time." He replied, his usual arrogance returning instantly, along with that devilish smirk.

She laughed at that, "yeah that's right Hao, just keep feeding your ego, I'm sure your head can't get that much bigger."

This time it was Hao's turn to laugh, but his laughter died quickly when he took another look at her eyes, and his thoughts filled with curiosity.

"Why are your eyes like that?" he asked again, hoping for an answer this time.

"That question again huh? You don't see me asking why you can read minds now do you?" she countered.

Hao's expression grew dark, almost sad.

"That is personal." He replied bluntly, the coldness in his voice making Shinji curious.

"And asking about my eyes isn't?"

He didn't reply, and despite the fact that a normal person would have taken the hint and realized this was not something she should be poking her nose in, Shinji decided otherwise.

"Okay, I'll make you a deal, you seem to love them after all. Tell me about your crazy mindreading thing, and I'll tell you about my eyes."

Hao frowned, "why do you even want to know?"

She shrugged, "same reason as you, curious."

Hao wasn't fond of the compromise, but it might be the only chance he'll get at discovering some of the mystery that seems to surround Shinji Lemora.

"Fine, tomorrow then. But only if you win our bet."

Shinji frowned, but nodded none the less. Learning more about Hao would make her victory all the more sweet when she won.

"Fine. Now let's get our training on." She said, brightening up instantly and jumping into a fighting stance.

"What?" Hao asked, genuinely confused.

"You. Me. Training. Get it?"

"You want to train with me?"

"Actually, it was you who wanted to train with me remember? Or are you backing out already?" she challenged.

Hao smirked and pulled his poncho up over his head, throwing it to shore.

"I never back out."

"Cool, but did you really have to get half naked for this? My eyes are burning at the horrible sight!"

"You know you love it."

"As if Asakura! Anyway, here are the ground rules. We fight hand to hand only, which means no shaman stuff with the exception of staying on this water and things that enhance speed, strength, you know the easy techniques. In other words no fancy element manipulation. No lethal blows, obviously, and if either one of us gives up, runs out of mana, or the sun sets we stop. I really don't wanna be fighting all night. Other than that everything else is fair play. Got it?"

"yes."

"Cool, ready?" she asked, she wasn't about to just jump the poor guy without warning. He nodded and she smirked, this was going to be entertaining.

"GO!"

By the time the two got back to the cabin it was already nightfall. As expected neither one had given in and since they both had almost limitless mana they fought till sunset. Hao remained perfectly composed, though there was a thin sheen of sweat to his skin, and were it not for his healing abilities he would have had more than one mark on his body. Despite this there was still the small smile creeping across his lips. That was defiantly the most challenging training he had done in a long time, and even he had to admit that he had enjoyed their fight. For once he had a decent opponent, and he would bet that if they hadn't been holding back their fight would have been truly spectacular to see. But then that irritating little twinge of sadness pulled at his heart as he remembered that not too far from now they really would have to fight with everything they have, and there would be no real fun when the stakes are so high.

During Hao's silent monologue, Shinji was stupidly prodding a pretty purple bruise on her arm, and wincing slightly from the pain. Unlike Hao she had still not completely mastered the healing ability she now possessed, and it took her a little while longer for her to heal unless she focused on it completely, which she was too lazy to do right now. Besides, she was fine with the pain, after all her aching limbs helped to make her feel more alive. She smiled. Her skills were defiantly improving.

Hao had noticed too, but unlike Shinji he was not so happy about it. The stronger she got, the more serious Hao would have to take their match when that time came, and the more chance he would end up hurting her.

That thought shocked him.

'_I'm more worried about her getting hurt than her possibly beating me in the tournament! What is wrong with me?"_

"Hey Hao, I'm gunna hop in the shower real quick. You can use it after me if you want." Shinji said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

Shinji gave him an odd look. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Why? You worried about me?" her replied, forcing control over his expression. Shinji's face flushed red, and her eyes went a bright pink, even as she frowned.

"W-who'd be worried about you, dumbass!" she yelled, stomping into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.

Hao chuckled lightly to himself at her funny behaviour. It was just so fun to embarrass the water shaman. It seemed that all of his thoughts led to her nowadays, and it confused him. The shaman tournament was starting to take a backseat to Shinji. The one thing he had been striving for through his life time seemed so much less important than the girl who had killed him, how messed up did that sound?

He shook his head, trying in vain to restore some sense of normality to his brain. But it was useless, he just couldn't get her out of his head! Her strength, her wit, her beauty, he loved it all. But it was driving him insane. This wasn't supposed to be happening, he was Hao Asakura's damn it! The feared fire shaman and future king, not some love sick puppy-dog! He always got what he wanted and this would be no different! He was going to make Shinji his and then he was going back to focusing on the important stuff- the shaman tournament. That was the plan at least.

"Hao, showers free." Shinji said, coming out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel to cover herself. Her delicate skin glistened with moisture, and her wet hair stuck to her back and face, dripping water all over the floor. Flushed from the heat, the slight redness of her skin made her crystal blue eyes sparkle.

"Hao, are you sure you're feeling okay? Your face is a bit red." She asked, oblivious to her effect on him. When he didn't answer she walked over and placed her hand on his forehead, crouching down to meet his eyes. "Hmm, you do feel a little hot."

"I'm fine." He replied, standing up abruptly and quickly brushing past her into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Shinji stared at the door for a moment, before shrugging and walking into her room. She wasn't one to pry. If he wasn't going to tell her what was wrong then that's fine, she wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Not long after, Hao emerged from the bathroom clean and dry (thanks to his natural affinity to fire) and dressed only in his crimson cargo pants and his usual arrogant smirk. He was feeling confident as he walked into Shinji's room, even as she turned and glared at him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. She was sat cross legged in the middle of the bed dressed in the same silky pale blue pyjamas he had seen her in months before at the hotel. A book was open and placed in her lap, her hair flowing free down her shoulders and pooling around it like a frozen lake. To Hao, it was a stunning sight, but somehow through all his drooling he managed to articulate a sentence.

"What are you reading?"

Shinji's frown, if possible, grew darker.

"Don't avoid my question with another question. Now, what are you doing here?"

"I thought we had already established that I will be staying here until either you figure out my medium or sunset comes around tomorrow. And I really was interested in your book."

"It's the subtle knife, and it's not mine, its Nindie's. Now let me rephrase this, what are you doing in my room?"

"Well I have to sleep somewhere. You can't possibly expect me to sleep in the rabbit man's room –"

"Kekki."

"Yes, Kekki. Or maybe in your sisters room perhaps? And is it a good book?"

"Yes, very much so. If I wasn't I wouldn't be reading it. And I was thinking the sofa would be good enough for your royal pyro ass."

"Ha I think not. Besides, it's not like we haven't shared a bed before. And I think I'll give it a read sometime."

"Pft, yeah that's rich, the crazed human hater reads a book written by a human? Somehow I can't see that happening."

"Your right, it won't."

"Anyway, I may have let you once –"

"Twice."

"Whatever, point is I was very tired and didn't know any better, and it is NOT happening again. Besides, in case you've forgotten, I'm still mad at you."

"what for?"

"Are you an idiot? We had a huge argument just yesterday! Or did you forget that?"

"I thought we were over that, you were fine during training."

"Over it? How can we be over something we haven't even talked about yet?"

"I tried to talk about it but you wouldn't listen to me!"

"Well maybe that's because I don't speak asshole!"

"Oh just admit it, you love me as much as I love you!"

"I- wait...what?"

'_Shit' _Hao thought, _'I wasn't supposed to say that out loud'_

"It's nothing." He answered; turning around to escape the room, but Shinji grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"No, tell me what you said." She insisted, pulling him back around to face her.

"It's obvious you heard me, so why should i bother to repeat myself?" he asked, refusing to look her in the eye.

Shinji was stunned into silence. She must have misheard him. There was no way Hao could... not in a million years could he...

Love her.

It was impossible.

But what if it wasn't? Did she love him too? There was defiantly something between them. She wasn't completely oblivious. Even when she was mad she couldn't help but be drawn to him.

But did she love him?

Shinji thought back over everything. Over every irritation conversation, every joke they shared, every kiss. Each time Hao showed how he cared, the way he got mad at the xlaws when they hurt her, how she found herself missing him at England, the things Nindie had told her when she came back and how Hao reacted when he saw her again. How he never seemed to leave her alone... and how inside, no matter how much she convinced herself otherwise, she didn't really mind it.

"Hao I think – no, I do love you." She said, a sad smile coming to her lips, "but we can't be together if that's what you're thinking."

Any look of happiness on Hao's face from her confession was wiped away in that moment.

"Why not?" he asked, meeting her gaze with his own.

"We're enemies Hao. You said that yourself. And I'm not willing to just bow down and let you win this tournament because I have feelings for you, and I'm sure you wouldn't either. Besides, you know what they say, don't date the competition."

"I don't care what other people say."

"It's a figure of speech Hao, don't start going blonde on me." She said, laughing at her own joke. Hao wasn't quite seeing the funny side, too busy silently brooding with a sour look on his face. Shinji sighed and grabbed his hand to pull him down onto the bed so that they were seated and facing each other. But she didn't let go.

"Look Hao, I'm not saying we won't ever be together, i mean once this whole shaman tournament thing is over and done with, maybe we could give this relationship thing a try?"

Hao smirked a little at that.

"Oh I don't know Shinji; I might be awfully busy then, being the shaman king and all."

Shinji smiled. There's the cocky basted she knows and loves.

Loves...

It was still so weird thinking that.

"Well I can't imagine you ever being busier than me, after all when _I _am shaman king I'll have a lot of responsibilities to tend to." She replied, matching his confidence with her own.

"Have you had an unexpected sex change?" Hao asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Well I always hear that 'king' was a title for men not women."

"Oh quit being an ass, you know what I mean." She replied, thumping him lightly on the head. Hao laughed, a smile spreading across his face as an easy silence filled the room.

It was strange; the whole confession thing hadn't gone exactly as Hao had planned. He had expected to have wooed her with his charms and looks, and watched her bow down before his awesome might, but he really should have known better. Shinji was not the typical weak female shaman he was used to encountering. She was as strong as any male shaman, stronger than most if Hao was being honest, and she had the foulest mouth he had ever heard. It was a wonder how those beautifully sculpted cherry blossom lips could swear so badly! She had a habit of steering away from the norm, being spontaneous and easily aggravated. From the amount of times they had argued he should have realized it would happen again. But then, she said she loved him. He had been expecting it of course, but he hadn't expected the words to ever sound so sweet. And okay, she had basically rejected him, but she was only being logical. She was right after all, they were enemies for now. They could start a relationship when the fights were over. For now he had to focus on the tournament. It shouldn't be too hard...

Right?

"Hey Hao, turn the light off before you come over here will ya?" Shinji asked, slipping under the covers and breaking Hao away from his thoughts.

"What?" he replied, confused. Was she inviting him to sleep with her?"

"Well it's not like you'll go away if I don't let you stay in here. And besides, the sofa is a little small for you."

Hao grinned triumphantly. "I knew you couldn't resist me."

"Oh just shut up and get over here already, I'm tired." She replied, rolling her eyes.

He did, turning the lights off before sliding into under the warmth of the blankets beside Shinji. As his arm brushed against hers he frowned, noticing the chill of her skin. Without a word he pulled her against the warmth of his chest and wrapped his arms gently around her waist. She tensed slightly from the sudden contact.

"Your cold. You should have said something." He chide lightly, a small smile coming to his lips as he felt her relax against him.

"Sorry, guess I'm not used to the climate difference. It's a lot cooler here than in the western desert you know?"

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing I'm here."

"Yeah for once."

Hao laughed, "I thought you said you were tired?"

"I am."

"Well quit talking and get some sleep then."

"Fine," Shinji huffed, "but just s you know, if it didn't suit me I wouldn't be listening to me right now."

"Yeah, I know."

"good." She mumbled, burying her face in his chest and almost instantly falling asleep.

Hao smiled for what seemed the fiftieth time that day. Defiantly unusual behaviour. Shinji sure knew how to bring out the best in him, even if things were a little bumpy along the way. Hao hadn't felt this happy in a long time, and as he looked down at the girl hugging against him, he realized he would never let her go. No matter what.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Well there you have it people, the longest chapter I have ever written for this dang story, and let me tell you, it took me most of the day just to type it up XP But hey, I think it was worth it ^^ even though its almost 1 in the morning here in England and I should be really tired right now, it was still totally worth it ^^_

_And just to repeat the important part of all that dribble I said earlier for those who didn't read it, I will __**update 2 chapter on the 1**__**st**__** of every month **__from now on ^^ _

_So anyway guys, you know the drill, REVIEW! Please, and I will love you forever xxx_


	23. 23 tell me! tell me! tell me!

_Hey guys! Now I know I said I'd update every two months, bt clearly that plan failed so from now on the updates r random. I get waaay too much school work to be having to juggle everything around like that, and this year I actually want to pass art with a GOOD grade, not just a crappy C! so it means A LOT more work on my part 4 that =] the good news is that my writers block is pretty much ver (touch wood) so it shouldn't b too hard 4 me to write some more in my free time =]_

_Anyways, the long awaited chapter is now here! And it's a pretty big one. Took up 10 pages in word! I didn't realize till the end lol. Anyway, I'll shut up now lol. Enjoy =]_

Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .

Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.

C23- Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!

Shinji woke early the next morning to the sound of rain. She yawned and attempted to sit up but found something was holding her down at the waist. Confused and more than a little sleepy, Shinji pulled back the covers and stared blankly at the arm across her waist.

'_Hmm, well unless I've grown another arm I guess this isn't mine. So who's... oh...' _she thought, looking over at Hao while her groggy mind played over the events of the previous day. '_Well I guess that makes sense_' A small smile came to her lips.

He said he loves her, and she loves him. It was a little weird considering their history, but Shinji was pleased to have their feelings out in the open. For some reason she felt lighter, like a burden had been lifted. Or it could just be the fact that her brain was still half asleep, but either way it was defiantly a good feeling.

'_Well, no point sticking around here, I need to clear my head a little. Sorry Hao, I'm gunna ditch you for a bit, but don't worry, this pillow will keep you company.' _she thought, stiffening her laughter as she lifted his arm off of her and shoved a pillow in her place. He didn't even seem to notice, and happily snuggled into it. Silently, Shinji grabbed a change of clothes and tiptoed out of the room.

It didn't take long for her to change, slipping into a light blue vest top and some baggy jeans, and as she walked into the kitchen she noticed she wasn't the only one awake.

"Morning Rosie" she said with a smile, "shouldn't you still be in bed?"

"It is already past six o' clock, how long do you expect me to sleep for?" Rosie asked, her pretty little face devoid of emotion as usual.

"Six? As in six in the morning? Ah hell that's way too early! If I'd know that I'd have stayed in bed!" Shinji cried.

"But mi – er, Shinji, you would have not have been able to greet our guest if you remained asleep."

"Guest?"

"Yes. He is about to knock on the door."

'Knock knock knock'

Shinji gave Rosie a 'what the heck?' look, before moving to answer the door.

There, stood in the hideous ass white uniform that Shinji despised, completely soaked from the rain, was a certain green haired X law.

"Lyserg? What are you doing here?" Shinji asked in surprise.

"Jeanne-sama sent me." He replied, smiling brightly at her.

"This early in the morning? Don't you people sleep?"

"Uh, I can come back another time if this is inconvenient for you." He replied, his smile dropping slightly.

"No its fine, Marco would probably give you hell anyway. So what's up?" she asked, leaning against the doorframe.

"May I come in? It's a bit wet out here."

"Ah sorry Lyserg, that's probably not the best idea." Shinji replied; sweat dropping at the idea of Hao waking up with Lyserg in the room. It defiantly would not end pretty. "My uh, roommates are still asleep. I can stop the rain for you though."

Waving her hand the rain around Lyserg stopped, and his clothes instantly became dry.

"I'm dry!" Lyserg gasped in astonishment, touching the fabric of his shirt in amazement.

"Yeah, I think I'm getting better with other elements. It's cool right?" Shinji said. Grinning happily.

"Defiantly." Lyserg replied, with a grin that rivalled hers.

"So anyway, why are you here exactly?"

"Oh, Jeanne-sama asked me to bring you these." Lyserg replied, holding out some bags for her to take.

"What is- oh my god, Maryland cookies!" she yelled as she looked in the bag. Lyserg laughed as she started happy dancing on the door step.

"Jeanne-sama has sent the rest of them to your home in England, but she had some more imported over for you to have as an extra thank you. She also wants to know if you have discovered Hao's medium yet."

"His medium? Oh right I totally forgot. Well, tell Jeanne that I'm working on that right now, but I'll bring her the info tonight." Shinji replied, barely being able to take her eyes off of her heavenly snacks.

"All right. Well I'll leave you alone with your biscuits and-"

"Cookies Lyserg, cookies. Biscuits are totally different. For one thing, cookies are ten thousand times better!"

"Okay... then I'll leave you alone with your cookies then, and I'll see you tonight."

"Yup yup, see you tonight." Shinji replied absently still gazing lovingly at the bags in her hand. It wasn't until Lyserg was turning away back into the rain that she came to her senses. "Oh wait, hey Lyserg, hang on a sec." She said, diving into the house and returning a moment later with an umbrella in her hand. "You've only just got dry, why go waiting my efforts by getting wet again? Here."

"Oh thank you, are you sure it's all right?" he asked, hesitantly taking the umbrella that was thrust into his hands.

"Of course dummy, I wouldn't have offered if it wasn't." Shinji replied with a smile.

"All right then. I'll give it back tonight."

"Okay, have a safe trip home."

Shinji waved him off, watching him disappear into the shelter of the trees, before promptly dropping her hand and sighing contently.

'_Ah cookies oh cookies, how I long for the! And your mine all mine, muhahaha!' _she thought, grinning wildly as she gazed at the bags in her hand. Without paying much attention to her surroundings she turned to go back into the house and crashed face first into something hard that oddly enough smelled like cinnamon, before almost falling flat on her butt. Luckily, the yummy cinnamon smelling wall-like thing hand arms, and quickly grabbed her hand and yanked her back upright just before she hit the ground.

"You know, It's amazing how you've been able to live so long without me, you have no reflexes whatsoever and it appears that half the time your ears are switched off." Said the wall to the still slightly dazed water shaman.

'_Mmm cinnamon... wait, did the yummy wall just say something?' _Shinji thought, mentally shaking her head and looking up, only to see a certain brown haired pyro. _'Ohhh so the yummy talking cinnamon smelling wall is Hao, why does he smell like cinnamon? Did he steal my shampoo or something?'_

"Yes I did steal your shampoo; it's very good by the way."

"Sorry, what?"

Hao sighed, frowning lightly. "Are your ears just for decoration? Oh never mind, just come inside already, your letting the heat out." He said, pulling her away from the door and closing it.

"You're practically the living embodiment of heat, what's a little bit of cold air going to matter to you?" Shinji asked.

"I was thinking more for your sake than my own." He answered honestly, moving into the kitchen(Rosie was gone, off doing whatever it was unemotional eight year olds did in their free time) and fixing himself a coffee. Black. Go fig. Shinji followed and dropped the bags of cookies on the kitchen table, but her nose crinkled in repulse as she caught a whiff of the coffee.

"Eww how can you drink that stuff? It's so bitter!"

Hao laughed. "That's exactly why I drink it."

"Yeah well the only way you'd catch me drinking that crap is if you mixed ten pounds of sugar into it, along with a gallon of milk."

"Well then it wouldn't really be black coffee if you did that now would it?" he replied smugly, sitting down on one of the many chairs surrounding the very large wooden table.

Shinji on the other hand, walked over to the fridge and pulled out a large assortment of fruit, and promptly dumped them in the blender before placing the lid on top and pressing 'puree'.

Whatever Hao had planned to say next was swiftly cut off by the sheer volume of the machine. He frowned, and Shinji smiled innocently in response, pulling out a glass from the cupboard. Eventually, when she deemed the smoothie smooth enough, she shut off the blender and poured its contents into the glass and taking a long slow sip.

"Ah, now that's the good stuff." She said with a grin, wiping away a fruity moustache with her arm.

"So what's in there?" Hao asked curiously, gesturing towards the bags Shinji had dumped on the table and taking another sip of his coffee.

"Oooh thanks for reminding me, I forgot about them!" she said, practically running to the bags and leaving her smoothie abandoned on the kitchen counter.

"What is it?" Hao asked again, hoping this time to get an answer. Shinji looked at him dumbly for a second, her hands frozen over the bag.

"Oh right, these are the cookies Jeanne promised me. You know, the one's she said she'd give me if I helped her out."

"Ah so that was why Lyserg was drawing you out of bed and away from me." He gave her a pointed look.

Shinji smirked. "Is that jealousy I hear in your voice Hao?" she teased.

Hao's serious look turned into one of serious surprise and embarrassment, before twisting into a stubborn frown.

"I am not jealous of that infant." He snapped.

"You defiantly sound it. Just admit it Hao, you totally are jealous."

"I. Am. Not. Jealous. I just don't like the idea of you being in the company of the enemy."

"Lyserg's not my enemy. He thinks I'm helping out his boss and stabbing you in the back."

"Well he's not exactly your friend either." He replied stubbornly, folding his arms across his chest as if to emphasize the point.

"Aw come on Hao, he's not that bad once you get past the fact that he's working for a crazy group of psycho's bent on your destruction, and probably has dreams of pulling off all of your limbs slowly while grinning like a mad man."

Hao gave her a 'are-you-stupid-that's-exactly-my-point!' look, and Shinji shrugged.

"All I'm saying is, under the circumstances he's not a bad kid."

"He's an x law, that's bad enough."

"People have reasons for doing the things they do. And honestly, I think he has a pretty damn good reason to be pissed at you. I'm not saying what he's doing is right, but I can see why he's doing it, just like I can see why you do the things you do."

Hao said nothing in his defence. It wasn't as if it was the first time he had had this conversation with Shinji and more than likely it wouldn't be the last, but today, he was in no mood to go further into the argument. Their opinions never changed anyway. He sighed quietly, and took another sip of his coffee. He hadn't told her about his past, but it was obvious that she already knew at least some of it. On the other hand he still didn't know anything about her. He was hoping that tonight he would get some answers.

Shinji, noticing his sudden silence, shrugged and carried on rummaging through the bags before pulling out a packet of cookies and practically tearing at the rapper like a starved dog.

"Are you sure it's wise to accept food from someone who was willing to kill you?" Hao asked, changing the subject slightly.

"But these are the best cookies in the world! Why would I _not_ accept them?" she replied, popping on in her mouth and grinning madly as she chewed.

"What if it's poisoned?" he said at the exact moment that she swallowed the cookie. Suddenly, Shinji's eyes widened in shock and she grabbed her throat gasping, before collapsing in a heap on the floor.

"Ha ha very funny." Hao said sarcastically, but when she didn't get up off the floor he felt his heart flip over in his chest. "Shinji, quit messing around." Still she didn't answer. "...Shinji?"

"Pft..."

"Why you little –"

"Hahaha, you should have seen the look- pft – on your face haha!"

"Shinji!" Hao growled at the laughing, very much alive, girl rolling around on the floor in front of him. "That was _not_ funny."

"Aw come on Hao, lighten up. It was just a joke." She replied, wiping the tears from her eyes and sitting up.

"You might have thought it was funny, but I thought you were dead." He said stiffly, resisting the urge to kill her himself for making him worry like that.

"Sorry, I guess that was a bit mean huh?"

"A bit?"

"Buy hey, just so you know even if I was poisoned I wouldn't die. I mean, I was poisoned before and I healed myself all right. And even if I couldn't I'm sure you could fix me up no problem. So its fine, don't worry."

"You were poisoned before?"

"Yeah, when I fought three of the patch officials so I could, uh... re-join the tournament. Nicrome accidentally poisoned me in the fight and then started bragging about you. You should have seen his face when I healed my arm, it was so funny."

Hao nodded stiffly. He was still a little annoyed that Shinji had been able to re-join the tournament, but he had told himself he would let it go and that was exactly what he intended to do.

"Shinji, noticing his tight lipped attitude to the subject, decided to change it.

"Hey Hao, tell me what your medium is." She said sweetly.

Hao laughed at her bluntness.

"No." He replied.

"Aw why not?"

"Because it wouldn't be in my best interest if I told you."

"Yeah, but it would be in _my _best interest. Isn't that enough? Or *sniff* don't you care about me?" Shinji asked, her eyes watering and her lower lip quivering, pulling off a very good sad puppy impression.

"Are you trying to make me feel guilty?"

"...maybe."

"Well it's not working."

"Damn it Hao, that's not fair! You know what my medium is, so you should tell me yours."

"You didn't tell me what yours was. I worked it out myself, which is what you have to do if u want to know mine. So it is fair."

"Yeah well I'm not a super smart brain box like some people! How am I supposed to work it out?"

Hao sighed irritably and rubbed his temple. How could this girl be so stupid if she had been able to master the five points of the unity star? Honestly, she had even used some fire techniques that very morning when she had dried Lyserg off. How was it even possible that she didn't know?

"Shinji it's really not that hard. My medium is only a stone's throw away from your own."

"Wait wait wait, now there are stones involved in this?"

Hao slapped his forehead. This would be harder than he thought.

"Ha calm down Hao it was only a joke, I'm not that dumb." Shinji said with a grin.

"I'm really beginning to doubt that."

"Ah, screw you!"

"You wish."

"I said 'screw you.' not 'I want to screw you.' Notice the difference?"

"So you really do want to screw me." Hao countered with a satisfied smirk.

Shinji glared at him. "Ah you're so annoying! I'm leaving!" she huffed, stomping towards the door and flinging it open.

"To figure out my medium?"

"Your damn right I am! So don't you dare follow me." She replied, almost pulling the door off its hinges as she slammed it behind her.

Hao chuckled and leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of his coffee and smiling contently.

That girl was like a whirlwind. You never knew what she would do, but it defiantly made things interesting. Hao wouldn't complain, after all, that was exactly the reason he fell in love with her in the first place.

Shinji huffed irritably and threw a pebble across the lake, watching it skim across the surface before landing with a satisfying 'plop' in the centre. She was irritated, that much was obvious. For the last few hours she had been racking her brain for the answer to Hao's medium, and still she was no closer to knowing than she was before. With a heavy sigh she flopped down onto her back and looked up at the sky.

'_ooh that cloud looks like a bunny' _she thought absently, '_and that one's like a sheep, that ones a dragon, and that one…well that doesn't look like anything really. Man what am I doing? I'm supposed to be working out that stupid pyro's medium, and all I'm doing is looking at stupid clouds! But its soooo hard!_

_Ok let's think logically here. If I were a crazy stupid pyro with really bad clothes and a really annoying arrogant smirk that- gahh focus! Right, uhh…what does fire need to burn? Uhh…damn I wish I paid more attention in science class, I swear that stupid teacher mentioned this once. Hmm… think think think, hey I'm winnie the pooh! Damn it Shinji focus! Right so fire needs fuel to burn sooo… wood? No don't be stupid, when have you ever seen Hao lugging around a plank of wood? Man I'm such an air head! Okay, I need to think more like a shaman. Hell I've pretty much mastered the elements, why don't I know this? Then again its not like I use fire often. How do I use it?... huh… I don't know really, it just kinda pops out of thin –'_

"what are you doing?"

"Gahh! Hao! Don't scare me like that." Shinji replied, trying to get over he brief heart attack . hao chuckled and sat down on the grass beside her.

"You know your senses really are terrible, even an amateur shaman would be able to tell when a person is stood right in front of them. You may as well be blind." He said, his trademark smirk gracing his lips.

"Oh haha very funny. You know if I ever do become blind you'll wish you had never said that."

Hao said nothing, and the two sat in a comfortable silence, watching the blue sky slowly turn a vibrant pink.

"You do realise the sun is beginning to set don't you?" Hao said, breaking the silence. Shinji's eyes went wide.

"No way! That can't be right! How long was I out here?"

"The whole day."

"What! Oh man I missed dinner!"

"And your about to lose the bet. I'd say you have only a couple of minutes left before the sun sets." He said smugly.

"I really hate you right now, you know that? At least give me a hint"

"No"

"Why not!"

"Because."

"That's not a reason! Come on Hao, pleeeeease?"

"No"

"Fine. It's your loss." Shinji said in a sing song voice and giving him an i-know-something-you-don't-know look.

"What's my loss?" Hao asked curiously, not liking where this was going.

"Not telling. You'll find out soon enough." She said, a secret smile crossing her lips.

Hao really didn't like where this was going, but she had blocked her mind from his so he couldn't tell what she was planning. But then knowing shinji it would be something cruel and unusual. What if she dyed his hair when he was sleeping? Or worse, cut it off! He was **not **going to let that happen.

"Fine. One hint." He agreed grudgingly.

"Yay! Thank you!" Shinji cheered hugging him. "tell me! tell me! tell me!"

Hao smiled at her childish antics. If anyone else had acted like that he would have found It annoying, but on her it was just plain cute. Strange girl.

"Okay. It's everywhere."

"What! That's not a hint!" Shinji cried, outraged.

"Well that's all you're getting. Better hurry, you don't have long left."

"Damn you Hao! Okay, gotta think!"

'_Okay, so its everywhere. What is everywhere? Earth? No don't be stupid that's not it. Uhh… water? Wow that guess was even worse than the last. Air maybe? Am I just going through the elements or something? I'm so stupid! Although that does make more sense. Wait no it doesn't! You can't even see or touch air, how can it be a medium? Then again, you cant exactly see water vapour and I use that as my medium, and he did say before that his medium was only a stones throw away from mine…' _shinji, in the mist of her thinking picked up a nearby stone and threw it. Hao gave her an odd look.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Shut up, can't you see I'm thinking!"

Hao frowned but said nothing.

'_Well that was no help whatsoever! Okay… um let's think some more…. Damn the sun is setting real fast! Come on Shinji think! Everything he uses just appears, he doesn't use anything that I can see, it just appears out of thin air. Wow everything really is connected to air. But that just seems too obvious! Ah what the hell, it's not like I have much more time anyway, let's go for it.'_

"Is it… air?" Shinji asked hesitantly.

Hao was silent for a moment, and then, just as the world grew dark and the sun set over the horizon, he smiled.

"Congratulations, you do have a brain."

"Wait, so I was right?" Shinji asked in disbelief. Hao nodded, and a wide grin spread across her face."yes! Woo I win! Haha in your face sucker! I am the greatest shaman ever!" she cheered, jumping up and dancing around happily.

"Well I wouldn't go that far. It still took you two days to work out." Hao said with a smirk.

"Oh shut up, don't spoil my victory! Can't you just gracefully admit defeat and compliment me on my awesomeness?"

"I don't think so somehow."

"Spoil sport" Shinji pouted. Hao laughed, ruffling her hair till it stuck out at off angles before pulling her into a hug.

"You did good. Now hurry up and go to see the x laws, we have a lot to talk about when you get back."

"We do?" Shinji asked, confused.

Hao nodded. "You're going to tell me about your eyes."

_Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_Well there you have it guys, chapter 23 =] hope you liked it! Please review! Receiving nice comments is the highlight of the day =] I wanna try to make it to 50 comments! I'll b so happy if I do so I'm counting on you guys =] well bye for now!_


	24. 24 followers

_**Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .**_

_**Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.**_

_**zaza98able: **_sorry about the random schedule . I'm just rubbish at time keeping. I was actually supposed to finish typing this up by 1 and its now almost 5 so u can see how bad I am lol. And yeaaah you don't have 2 do the whole, one word one review thing to put my reviews up, I'm sure I'll live if I wait for people to review normally (though from the amount of people that reviewed the last chapter that might take a LONG time ..) And as for the cookies, sorry but I'm a greedy pig and don't like to share lol

_**ksv12: **_yay im glad you like it =] to be honest as I was writing that part I couldn't stop laughing myself. Kinda sad that I laughed so much at my own joke but oh well lol. As for the HaoXoc thing, well I think I've loved that since I first started watching the series, and that was about 5 years ago (as you can see im a devoted Hao fan, despite the fact that I just loooove taking the p**s out of him =]) all I can say about ur sister is… ha! You have no idea how often I've had exactly the same thing happen! Sadly I also have 2 share a room with my sister so I feel your pain =[ love the pic 2 btw. Its funny =] did u do that urself or is it just something you found?

_**Well that's all my replying done. After all NO ONE ELSE was nice enough to review chapter 23, even though I know that over 45 people read it! darn you non reviewing people, you crushed my dream of reaching 50 reviews! Anyways, enough of my rambling, this (much sooner than usual) chapter is for you zaza98able and ksv12! Love u guys =]**_

Chapter 24 – followers

Shinji had been gone for an hour already, and back at the house Rosie and Kekki sat in an uncomfortable silence. Hao had gone back to his camp the same time Shinji left, saying he would wait for her there because Opacho was probably worried, and it was the first time the emotionless little girl had been left alone with the wolf man. Rosie smiled secretly. This was the perfect opportunity to find out exactly what the man was, because clearly he wasn't your average shaman. Kekki found himself feeling slightly intimidated by that smile. It was like he knew exactly what he was thinking. It was eerie. She reminded him of another child he had come across in his travels in the time before he had met Shinji. The humans had called her a 'seer' and it was said that she was gifted with the ability to look into the future and foresee natural disasters before they happened. Whether she was capable of seeing other things he was unsure, but when he had approached her and the men tried to stop him, she was the one telling them to let him past. An innocent smile appeared on her face, and she was without fear.

"You are no demon."

Shinji had said something similar when they first met.

Rosie watched the wolf man carefully. He seemed to be deep in thought. About what, she was unsure, but feeling impatient for an answer she came right out with her question.

"What are you Kekki?"

back with Shinji 

"Wow that had to be one of the most awkward moments in my life" Shinji laughed.

"You didn't exactly make matters any better when you called Marco an 'uber nerd with a really bad hair style' as you left." Replied Nindie with a grin.

"Ha yeah, I should have taken a picture of the look on his face, that was priceless."

"I'm surprised he didn't try to attack you again."

"He's not allowed. Jeanne wouldn't let him hurt me. Not when I have such 'valuable information' to give. She was practically jumping for joy when I told her Hao's medium."

Shinji smiled. It had been a while since she and Nindie had talked properly – what with everything going on with hao, and the two fell into a comfortable silence as they headed towards his camp. Though something was on Nindie's mind.

"Are you happy with him?" she asked suddenly. Shinji gave her a confused look.

"What Marco? Why would I be happy with him? I hate the guy."

"Not Marco you idiot, I mean Hao."

"Oh right," replied Shinji, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. She thought for a moment before answering, " yeah I guess I am. I mean he can be a complete ass at times but he has his good moments too. And once you get past the whole 'I will all humans thing' he's a pretty decent guy, and hey, you can't say he's not ambitious.'

Nindie laughed, but there was a sadness in her eyes that Shinji couldn't help but notice.

"Nindie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm happy for you, even if it is Hao your in love with. It's just…"

"Go on, tell me."

"Well I guess I'm a little jealous of you Shinji. I mean, your alive. You have a future, and maybe even have kids someday. I can't ever have that. I can't find someone for me, and I'm starting to wonder if I ever will." She said sadly.

"Don't be stupid!" Shinji scolded, "just because it's taking a while doesn't mean it won't happen. I mean, look at me! It took me over a thousand years to find someone, and it ended up being the guy I killed five hundred years ago! Things don't always happen the way you'd expect."

"Yeah, but I'm dead Shinji, it's a little harder for me."

"Well then find some hot dead guy to snap you up. You're a total catch Nindie, what guy wouldn't want you?"

"I guess.."

"come on, cheer up! I tell you what. Tomorrow we'll have a girl's day out. No guys allowed. Okay?"

Nindie seemed to brighten up a bit after that. "Okay."

"Awesome, so it's a date, ha. Now let's just try to get through Hao's crazy followers without having them try to kill us."

"you mean you."

"Right, right." Shinji replied absently, stepping out and into the clearing. As expected, once the followers caught sight of the two they stood up, menacing glares on each of their faces.

"uh…hi" said Shinji with a wave, "is Hao around?"

"what business does a little girl like you have with our Hao sama?" asked the priestly looking guy.

'Oh great, the little girl comments again' thought Shinji bitterly. "look pal, enough with the little girl comments okay? I'm actually older than the lot of you put together." She replied, trying her best to control her rising temper.

"haha, she's an old hag!" cried Blondie, making the whole group laugh.

"funny, you wouldn't say that about Hao now would you? If you call me an old hag you may aswell call him the king of all grandpa's." Shinji retorted with a satisfied smirk as they all gasped.

"How dare you insult our great Hao-sama! You aren't even worthy to speak his name!" cried the preacher guy in outrage.

"Well if you like him so much why don't you marry him?" said Nindie, not wanting to be left out of an insulting Hao session.

"Yuck Nindie that's disgusting! Can you imagine the kids?" added Shinji in mock astonishment.

"Oh I'm sorry, you're right. It would be crime to let such horrible things be brought into the world."

"The real question is, who would be the girl in the relationship?"

"Probably Hao, he has the hair for it after all."

As the two girls laughed Hao's followers were getting more and more infuriated.

"That's it!" cried the smoker, "Ashcroft!"

The suit of armour Shinji and Nindie hadn't noticed sitting in the corner suddenly sprang to life and charged towards them. Still laughing, Shinji effortlessly dodged the attack, freezing the armour on the spot. Soon there were attacks being flung at them left right and centre, and now Nindie was switching between weapon forms. First a sword, then a spear, next a bow, but not once did they actually land a single blow. Instead they decided to have a little fun, toying with the followers until they had collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion. Out of mana, and out of energy.

"Well that was fun huh Nindie? It's been a while since I've done so much dodging." Shinji said with a grin.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we've had such a fun training session." Added Nindie. While they were having their little conversation they didn't notice tubby sneaking up behind them. Suddenly, Hao appeared, one arm going protectively around Shinji's waist, the other effortlessly stopping tubby's attack. Hao glared darkly at his followers, and everyone could see the murderous flame in his eyes. A fearful silence fell over the camp, and only one thing was on everyone's mind, 'what is he going to do?' everyone except for Shinji of course, who was still trying to get over her mild heart attack, and was pretty dumb to the severity of it all.

"Holy crap Hao! You scared the life out of me!" she cried, "don't make me jump like that!"

He ignored her, instead focusing on his followers.

"What do you think you were doing?" he asked. He wasn't raising his voice, but it was that point exactly that was terrifying. But when no one answered he found it hard to control his temper, "well?"

"the girl wondered into camp and started insulting you hao-sama, so we thought-"

"hey that's not fair, you started it! I was just innocently asking where he was and you people started insulting me. AGAIN!"

"So you thought you would start insulting me?" asked Hao, only mildly annoyed at her for causing another scene. She shrugged.

"seemed like the best way to tick them off. Besides they called me an old hag, so I said they may aswell call you the king of all grandpa's cuz, you know, we're practically the same age give or take a year or two and –"

"Same age! Hao-sama this cannot be-" interrupted the preacher.

"Yes, she can." Replied Hao, pulling Shinji closer to him and tightening the grip he had around her waist.

"But she's just a kid!"

"hey I'm standing right here you know, quit calling me a kid!"

"in this lifetime she may look like a kid-"

"hey!"

"but she is actually the same age as I am."

"So don't worry people, Hao isn't really a paedophile!" Shinji joked. Nindie laughed, but no one else did. Shinji frowned, "well I thought it was funny."

"Hao-sama are you sure this is her? She seems like an-"

"Idiot? Yeah it's her."

"Still standing right here guys, quit talking about me like I'm not! Now will someone please tell me what you guys are talking about?"

"My followers don't believe that you are really you." Hao explained.

"What they think I'm an illusion or something?"

Hao felt like slapping his forehead, but unfortunately his dignity wouldn't allow such an act, so he settled with giving Shinji a 'your-an-idiot' look."

"You really aren't helping yourself right now."

"Hey!"

"What I mean is, because you seem so stupid, childish and look so young they don't believe that you are the same Shinji Lemora that killed me five hundred years ago."

"okay, I both understand now, aaand feel slightly insulted. I mean come on guys! I just kicked your asses without even landing a single blow and you don't think im strong enough to have killed this moron?"

"why do you always insult me when you're mad at them?"

"Sorry, I think it's become a habits or something." She shrugged, "anyways, for your information creepy follower people, I DID kill Hao five hundred years ago, so there!" as if to emphasis the point, she poked her tongue out at them childishly.

Hao laughed, and patted her on the head.

"But Hao-sama, if she really did kill you, then why are you just letting her stand there like nothing happened?" asked the girl who oddly reminded Shinji of haloween.

"because she is Hao-sama's lady friend." Piped up a cute little African girl sweetly. Halloween girl's eyes widened, and she pointed an accusing finger at Shinji.

"you were the girl Hao-sama was sleeping with!"

"What! I've never slept with him! What the hell are you talking about?" asked Shinji.

"its true! Mari saw it with her own two eyes." Added blondie.

"how can you see something that never happened? Unless…OH MY GOD YOUR CHEATING ON ME!" Shinji cried, wrenching herself out of Hao's hold and swinging a punch at him. He blocked it easily, and grabbed her flailing arms in an attempt to keep her still.

"calm down!"

"I can't believe this!" she ranted, completely ignoring him, "you-you- ah there isn't even a word to describe how horrible you are! You stupid, arrogant, cheating-"

"For crying out loud Shinji shut up! I am not cheating on you!"

"You- your not?"

"No. last time you were at camp team flower and Opacho walked in when you were asleep. Asleep. Not sleeping in that way."

Shinji made a big O with her mouth, feeling like an idiot. "Riiiiight, sorry. My bad. You are forgiven."

Hao shook his head at her, but there was a smile on his face as he pulled her back into his arms. Preacher guy looked confused.

"hao-sama why are you sleeping with-"

"being asleep with!"

"-the enemy?" he continued.

"has lady decided to join Hao sama?" asked Opacho hopefully.

"No. why would I do that?" Shinji laughed.

"Shinji is giving us information about the x laws plans," Hao explained, "and she is a very important person to me. So if any of you attack her again it will be the last thing you do."

He gave them all one last look that made the group shiver in fright, before grabbing Shinji's hand and leading her into his tent, Nindie following behind them.

_**Wow that took a while to type. This was originally only half of this chapter but it's just sooooo huge I decided to split it into 2 chapter. Well I'm not going to update the next chapter (or second half depending on how you look at it) until I get MORE than just 2 reviews, cuz I am just that evil =] SO REVIEW PEOPLE! But thanks again ksv12 and zaza98able for being nice enough 2 review =]**_


	25. C25 the past

_**Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .**_

_**Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.**_

**Ksv12: **_*gasp!* I can't believe no one has ever replied! Stingy people . well you can count on me to reply =] still loving your piccy btw, it's in my faves! For once I'm actually using deviant art now that I've got my own stuff on there =]_

**Liliambdragon: **_thanks, I had lots of fun writing it =] especially the Shinji + Nindie Hao bashing session. I couldn't stop grinning as I wrote that =] _

**Zaza8able: **_thank you, thank you *bows* and I totally agree with the plans thing, soooo boring. Being spontaneous is way more fun =] and thanks for being such an awesome reviewing person! Sucks about the history exam, hope u get a good grade though, puppy's are very important! I don't know where I'd b without my doggy. Who would I give random hugs to? No one else would put up with it lol =] im still being a big meanie and keeping my cookies to me, my friends already stole half of them the other day! I almost murdered them for it lol. Don't worry about the late review, at least you gave me one =]_

**Fanny: **_yay, I have you hooked and now I'm never letting you go! Lol. Thanks 4 the review =] I know exactly what you mean about Hao though. Isn't it just annoying when people make him so out of character so early in the story? I mean honestly, I highly doubt he would get so mushy about a girl so quickly. Heck I still worry some times that I might be making him a little out of character, but I'm not nearly as bad as some people . I'm glad someone sees it my way =]_

_**Thanks again to all the lovley people who reviewed! Im over 40 reviews now people! Only 8 reviews till 50!**_

_**Anyway, I've done a couple of mini comics of Shinji with some of the other shaman king characters, so take a look people! Here's my deviantart profile: **_.com/_** have a look at my fave pic too while you're there! It's an awesome pic of Shinji done by my lovely new friend **_**Ksv12 =]**

**I'll shut up now lol. Heres the chapter!**

Chapter 25 –the past

"Well that was lots of fun." Shinji grinned, flopping down on Hao's futon.

"You shouldn't wind them up like that." Hao scolded.

"I know I know, but to be fair they started it."

Hao sighed as he sat down next to her on the futon.

"You know what? I'm gunna go chat to the spirit of fire. He's not great for a conversation, but maybe I can help him figure out his original form or something." Nindie said thoughtfully.

"Wait a minute, original form?" asked Hao curiously.

"well yeah, I mean I have two forms. This one and that big ugly one that so great for scaring the crap out of people."

"So you think the spirit of fire has another form too?"

"Of course! I mean all of the elemental spirits were alive at one point, it's just that most are so old they can't remember their life before they died."

"so how old are you?"

"tut tut Hao, you should never ask a girl her age." Shinji said with a grin.

"I'm the same age as this idiot. I died when I was fifteen, then Great Spirits made me the spirit of rain, and sent me straight back to Shinji."

"Why did they send you back? And what happened to the old spirit of rain?"

"They said that Shinji had the potential to be great, the problem was after I died she went into depression. She wouldn't talk for weeks, and her parents had to practically force her to eat. She was a wreck. The great spirits realized that without me she would probably never recover and be the great shaman they were hoping for, so they sent me back hoping I could knock some sense back into her dumb head." Nindie said with a smile, "and we've been together ever since. As for the old spirit of rain, I have no idea. I've heard rumours. Some say there never was one. Others say it went rogue, tried to flood a whole lode of places, and had its powers stripped away before being sent down to hell. I don't know, and honestly I didn't ask. I got some awesome powers, and I got to see my friend again. That was a lot more than most got when they died. Any who, I'm going to go now. You kiddies have fun!" she said merrily, before floating out the side of the tent to chat with the spirit of fire.

"Well she was a lot more… pleasant." Commented Hao after a brief silence.

"yeah, I think she's warming up to you."

"that's a surprise."

"ha, yeah she really hated your guts. Though to be fair she always got a little pissy at anyone who got close to me after she died. I guess she was worried I would leave her behind."

Hao nodded in understanding. After all, Shinji was alive. She would meet new people, fall in love and then maybe settle down someday. What use was a guardian ghost then?

"I would never do that though." Shinji continued, "She was my friend before anything else, and she's been with me for all this time. I could never leave her behind. I'm just not sure if she knows that herself."

"how did she die?" hao found himself asking. Shinji smiled sadly.

"We were out for a walk, picking blackberry's for a pie my mum wanted to bake, and we headed down to the river. The rapids were known for being particularly dangerous in the area, but the best blackberries were on the other side. I was confident that we could reach them if we crossed this log that went from one end to the other, but Nindie wasn't so sure. I insisted that it would be easy so after a lot of persuasion she agreed to go across with me. I got across no problem, but Nindie… she slipped. I tried to reach her but before I could even get to her she had fallen in, and the water had swept her down the river. I ran as fast as I could downstream, but by the time I found her it was too late, she was trapped between some rocks, her body limp and lifeless. I'd never cried so much in my life. But that was also the day I found out that I was a shaman, though at the time I didn't exactly have a name for it. In my desperation I tried to reach to her, and then the water shifted, and she was being pulled to shore by the very water that had killed her. I guess the strain from using my abilities for the first time must have knocked me out or something, because the next thing I knew I was back at home, and my parents were looking at me sadly. And then… well you know the rest."

"You went into a depression, and then Nindie came back as a ghost."

"Right. My parents thought I had lost the plot after that, since they couldn't see Nindie they thought I was talking to myself."

"Your parents were human!"

"Oh don't look at me like that Hao, it's not like every shaman is born from a complete shaman family. My grandparents were shaman though. They were the ones to explain to my parents and me what the hell was going on. Apparently the whole shaman gene skipped my mother's generation and jumped straight down to me and my little sister. We found out that not long after I started seeing ghosts my sister could to. She ended up marrying another shaman, and having lots of little shaman babies." Shinji explained.

"Did you?" asked Hao.

"what?" she asked, confused.

"have… lots of little shaman babies?"

"no! no, no, no, no, no, not a chance! I was too busy training for any of that stuff. Besides, I died before I could even make it to twenty five."

"how?"

"…if I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh."

"why would I laugh?"

"just promise me."

"fine I promise."

"… I caught a cold."

Hao gave her an 'are-you-serious?' look.

"Hey, it could have happened to anyone!"

"but you're a shaman."

"I didn't know how to heal back then. And besides, it's not like it mattered. I'd already learned the five points of the unity star by then so reincarnation was a breeze. And the really good news was I didn't have to get all old and wrinkly before I died!"

"Well I suppose that's a plus." Hao laughed.

Shinji frowned playfully and punched him in the arm.

"Now I feel like I'm forgetting something? What am I forgetting?" she thought out loud. "Hmm… something to do with the x laws…"

"You went to tell them about my medium and…?" Hao prompted.

"Oh yeah! Well I told them, and they were happy, then mad. Oh and they're planning something to do with your next match. They didn't tell me what though. I was politely kicked out before they let slip that little detail."

"why were they mad?"

"because I called Marco an uber nerd with a really bad hairstyle. Needless to say, he was not impressed." She said with a grin.

Hao laughed. He was doing a lot of that these days.

with Rosie and Kekki 

Silence.

"You want to know what I am?" kekki asked with a sharp toothy grin. To any other little girl it would have been intimidating, but Rosie was completely unfazed. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

"yes." She replied bluntly.

He laughed, though it sounded more like a deep rumble than a laugh.

"you're a brave kid, I like you." He said.

"Good. Now please tell me." She replied.

Kekki laughed again and complied with her request.

"I am what people call a Ly-hound."

"a ly-hound?"

"Let me explain. A ly-hound is a creature that feeds off of human flesh." If he was expecting a reaction he didn't get one, so he continued, "We are beings born of darkness, the demonic shape shifters of the wood."

"If you are so bad then why do you help Miss Shinji?" asked Rosie curiously.

"She saved my life once. I believe it was around five hundred years ago when she rescued me from those murky waters."

"You knew miss Shinji in her past life?"

"Yes. However she was older than she is currently. I believe she was in her early twenties, and it was about a year before the shaman tournament of that time began. I had strayed too close to the water's edge and fell in. Mistress Shinji, being a shaman whose main focus is water, was training by the lake and spotted me. With her control over the water she swept me to shore."

"I don't understand. That would make you-"

"About five hundred years old, yes. I am not bound to the mortal rules of ageing, and draw energy from those whose flesh I have consumed. It keeps me young and alive."

"I presume Shinji does not approve of such a thing?"

"No. but we came to an agreement. I only prey on those humans who are cruel hearted to others. Those who take pleasure in causing misery. And I only do so when necessary."

"I see." Rosie said, nodding in understanding. That seemed just like Shinji. She wouldn't be about to take away what keeps kekki alive, so instead she uses his needs to suit a better purpose.

"So what is your story young one? What is your connection to mistress Shinji, aside from being her sibling of course?" Kekki asked curiously.

"There is no other connection between us. She is my biological sibling and so my loyalty lies with her. Family is important." She replied honestly.

"Is that all? If she were not your sibling would you still fight for her?"

"My opinion on such a thing does not matter. We are related; therefore I will support Miss Shinji for as long as she needs me."

"I do not believe miss Shinji would be pleased with such an answer. She would not want you to do anything against your own wishes simply because of a genetic bond."

"perhaps. But you misunderstand me. I would not do anything that I do not consider to be right. And I know that by helping Miss Shinji I am doing the right thing."

Kekki smiled. Her answer was cold but her heart was in the right place. Honestly he had expected Rosie to be simply an empty robotic child with no mind of her own. Clearly being brought up in the stiff house of the Lemora's had made it difficult for her to express herself, but he was glad to see that Shinji had gotten to her, if only a little.

"Well then, shall we make dinner?"

Rosie smiled; a small crease in her lip that only someone with superior eye sight, like that of a ly-hound's, would see.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxback with Shinji and HaoxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Well I'm tired. I better get back to Rosie and Kekki." Shinji said with a yawn as she went to stand up. Hao pulled her back down onto the futon, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"And where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? I have to get back to Rosie and Kekki. I'm not sure I like leaving them alone together. Rosie can be a little blunt sometimes, she might say something offensive and Kekki might try to eat her or something."

"Well you're going to have to live with it, because you're not going anywhere. You still haven't told me about your eyes."

"Aw can't I tell you tomorrow? I'm tired!" she whined, pulling a puppy dog face.

"…fine. But only if you stay here for the night."

Shinji frowned, "Fine, but just so you know blackmail is not nice." she said, pulling out a mobile phone from her pocket and quickly dialling a number.

"Hey Rosie? Hi. Are you guys doing okay? What? Kekki is teaching you a new recipe? …ew… I mean great! Well I'll be staying here tonight, okay? What?…Rosie! You shouldn't even know about that sort of thing! No I am not dodging the question! Of course I'm not! Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. Don't stay up too late all right? Rosie will you quit it! Nothing is going to happen! Okay, night." Shinji said hanging up with an extremely flustered look on her face. _'Damn kid. Why'd she have to go and say that stuff?'_

"what stuff?" asked Hao with a smug smirk on his face.

"n-nothing" Shinji stuttered. '_Shit! I forgot to block my thoughts again!'_

"then why are your eyes pink?"

"because…uh…"

Hao laughed as she fumbled with her words.

"The lighting is funny! Yeah that's it." Shinji replied eventually.

"oh really? So then it has nothing to do with what your sister said about, now how did she put it? doing 'the nasty' with me."

"Hao!"

"well you should have just told her she has nothing to worry about. You aren't nearly developed enough for me just yet."

Shinji glared at him. "Well I feel Soooo much better! It's great to know I'm not good enough for you with my poor underdeveloped body." She retorted sarcastically.

"Don't worry; give it a few years I'm sure you'll get some curves."

"You- you, ah you asshole! I'll have you know I have a very good body shape considering my current age, unlike_ some_ people."

"What do you mean, unlike _some_ people?" Hao frowned.

"All I'm saying is, reincarnation didn't exactly dump you into the good end of the gene pool this time short ass."

"I am not short!"

"Yeah sure, keep telling yourself that. You know you're probably even more underdeveloped than I am."

"I'm taller than you!"

"Yeah but I'm a girl, what's your excuse?"

"I'm only fifteen in this lifetime!"

"Well so am I!"

"Hao-sama, Opacho heard yelling, is-"

"Not now Opacho!" Hao snapped.

"Hao! Don't yell at her! She's just a kid!" Shinji said, hurrying over to the little watery-eyed girl and patting her fuzzy head comfortingly. Opacho sniffed sadly, her big dark eyes growing bigger as the tears threatened to fall. Hao's frown faded to a look of concern.

"I'm sorry Opacho." Hao said, walking over to the child and smiling weakly, "I didn't mean to yell at you."

The girl instantly snapped out of her tear jerking state and smiled brightly.

"Opacho is okay, Opacho knows Hao-sama didn't mean to scare Opacho." She replied sweetly. Shinji couldn't help but hug her.

"Aw your soooo cute!" she cried, "If Hao every yells at you again just tell me okay? I'll beat him up for you."

"Pft, like you could."

Opacho's eyes went wide, "no! Hao-sama and lady must not fight! Lady is Hao-sama's important lady friend! Hao-sama has been happy since lady has been here," she said, concern filling her small voice, her eyes starting to water once again.

"It's okay Opacho. We won't fight anymore. Can you stay with the team flower for tonight? Shinji and I need to talk."

Opacho nodded and happily trotted out of the tent. Silence followed.

"…I'm leaving." Shinji said, standing up and attempting to go out the door. But Hao was faster, pulling her by the hand into his embrace. Before she could protest he was kissing her. It was sweet and gentle, like honey. Shinji felt like she was melting against him, and as mad as she was she couldn't help but feel more and more drawn to him. As they pulled away her anger had all but dissolved, and a pink flush tinted her eyes and cheeks. For one sweet moment they just looked at each other, neither quite knowing what to say, but then Hao looked away.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that. I didn't mean it."

Shinji smiled, knowing he was sincere despite how hard it must have been to admit it.

"I'm sorry too. You're not really short. You're an average height!"

Hao smiled lightly and rested his forehead against hers.

"Well I feel sooo much better." He mimicked.

Shinji laughed, and pulled him back over to the futon. "Come on, let's just get some sleep. I have a funny feeling that tomorrow's going to be a busy day." She said, tugging her shirt up over her head to reveal the tank top underneath, before slipping under the covers. Hao followed suit, taking off his poncho and throwing it absently off to the side of the tent, before sliding in beside her. As Shinji snuggled against him Hao turned off the oil lamp that was next to where they lay, and they were engulfed in darkness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX^.^XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**Well that's it for now =] but don't worry, now that my writers block Is gone I'll b updating more often =] don't forget to check out my deviantart profile: **_.com/ _**and take a look at my cute little Shinji comic strips! Oh, and REVIEW! I must make it to 50!**_


	26. C26 the sea kings

_**Sadly I don't own shaman king; only my oc's and part of the plot. Dang .**_

_**Expect some violence, swearing, and funny.**_

**Ksv12: **_yay thank you!____I'm super sorry I didn't update sooner, I've just been so busy =[ I'm actually annoyed with myself for it ._

**Manyfanatic: **_ah I'm glad, I didn't want it to be the kind of funny only I'd laugh at lol, so thanks =] and yes, review more often please! Me likie reviews =]_

**Liliambdragon: **_don't worry too much about, I've been a pretty bad writer lately with the updates, so all is forgiven =] besides, you reviews now so that's what counts =]_

**Ikkona:**___wow 2 in the morning! I feel kind of special now =] hope u weren't too tired the next day. And wow again, English isnt your native language! I know people who are English and can't write as well as you lol. Don't worry, you did well =] thanks for reviewing!_

**starangel1765: **_well thanks for reviewing this time around, I appreciate it =] and I can't really blame you, I get a little busy sometimes and don't have time to write, so I guess it's the same for reviewing =] im glad you like my story tho =]_

**alexandra186098: **_wow u can't stop thinking about it? That awesome! Well I guess it must be annoying for you, but as a writer I'm glad my story's gotten stuck in your head lol. I'm glad you like it, and thanks for the review =]_

**Fanny: **_ugh, I know what you mean with the work, my art teacher keeps nagging me to do more and more work for his lesson, and seems to forget I have other lessons and a life outside school! And don't worry if its late, at least u reviewed =] and yes, I do love it! Lol. I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations =] and thanks again with the Hao thing. I do try lol =]_

**and finally… zaza98able: **_aw you are soooooo sweet =] thank you so much! I do enjoy reading comments, and I'm glad I can make ur day just like u make mine lol. Yh i'm pretty sure some of Shinji's character comes from how I think I would react in her situation, though she does have features which are all her own (like the height and age issue, I defo don't have that lol. Nor do I care all that much about swearing around kids as bad as that sounds . I just don't like it when they swear at me lol) and oddly enough I've actually started to think of her as an actual person and not just some character. Is that normal? Lol. Ooh I'm a little worried now, I think Shinji gets a little mean in this chapter, what with all the mocking and whatnot, but u'll see what I mean in a min. I could just b over reacting a little. Oh and just so you know, I am now also sick, and I have contaminated all of my friends =] I blame you for this! Lol only joking =] ur still not getting my cookies, that is defo where me and Shinji are the same, the cookies get given up 2 no one! Lol =] and just so you know, I like really long reviews, it gives me more to reply to as you can plainly see, so don't worry about making my head explode, I think I can handle it lol. That and romantic speeches are fun! Don't give them up! Lol. Im glad I've been able to effect people with this story (as odd and messed up as this story is) so it's nice to hear about it =] so don't worry!_

_anyway, now I'm talking so much I'm worried YOUR head will explode lol._

_Heres the long overdue chapter =] xx_

Chapter 26- The sea kings 

It was just before dawn when Shinji was irritably awoken by the sound of beeping and the flash of light beside her head.

"Mmm…just five more minutes" she mumbled, turning over and hiding her head under the covers and away from that blasted noise. Though her attempt at returning to sleep were in vain when Nindie flew into the tent and spotted her friend still buried under the blanket.

"Shinji, get up! We got to go!" the ghost cried, wrenching the covers away to reveal the frowning girl beneath.

"What? Why?" Shinji replied groggily, rubbing her sleepy eyes and pushing her tired body into a sitting position.

"Didn't you hear your oracle bell go off? We have a match, now hurry up!" urged Nindie.

"Aww but it's not even sunny yet!" whined Shinji, dragging herself out of bed and the gasping in shock. Without the snuggly warmth of the blanket and a certain fire shaman beside her things were pretty damn cold. "Oh my god, its freezing!" she cried, hugging herself in the feeble attempt to keep warm. Nindie laughed at her friend's stupidity and chucked her a warmer set of clean clothes, which Shinji hurriedly dressed into before tying her hair up out of her face and strapping her oracle bell onto her arm. She wasn't dressed in much, just a simple loose pair of jeans and a light blue hoodie, but it made all the difference against the chilled morning weather.

Just as she was about to leave with her frantic ghostly friend, Shinji stopped, remembering the pyro still lying asleep in bed.

"Wait, what should we do about Hao?"

Nindie looked over at him with a thoughtful frown, and then an evil smirk stretched slowly across her face. "We could draw a moustache on him?"

Shinji's eyes went wide for a minute, a little shocked at her friend's suggestion, and then a similar smile spread across her own face. "That wasn't exactly what I meant but I'm liking the more mischievous side of you Nindie. Toss me a pen."

"I don't have one, I thought you would." Nindie replied, her face dropping slightly.

"No why would I have a pen? Man Nindie, don't bring my hopes up with such a fun plan, and then dash them down like that!"

"Well sorry, but what would I even need a pen for, I'm dead!"

"…Good point. Oh never mind, I'll do it next time. I'll just write Hao a note telling him where we are in case he freaks o-…. Or I would…if I had a bloody pen! Damn these pens and their treachery!"

"Don't worry about it, I'll just tell the spirit of fire to let Hao know when he wakes up." Nindie explained, trying to stop the crazed female shaman from screaming the place down. It was a wonder Hao hadn't woken up already with the amount of noise Shinji made. He must be one heavy sleeper.

"The spirit of fire can talk?" asked Shinji, no longer yelling.

"Not well. The most he's ever used his vocal chords for is 'arrrrgh!' but he's learning."

Shinji shrugged, "good enough for me. Let's go!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx random x's! 

Not long after Shinji left Hao woke up, with a frown. Even in his slightly sleep induced hazy state he realized something wasn't quite right. Something was missing. He sighed as he turned onto his side and looked at the empty bed and ruffled sheets beside him.

"Where is she?" he said aloud, waking up more fully with his curiosity and slight worry. He frowned at the thought that he was worried, he never worried, but he guessed it was going to be something he was going to have to get used to with Shinji around. Or not around as the current situation seemed to be. With quick steps he darted out of the tent to look for the missing girl, swiftly grabbing his poncho and throwing it over his head as he went. The slight bitterness of the morning air was hardly noticeable to him as he glanced around the empty camp. He guessed everyone else was simply not awake yet, and he was about to start searching the woods when Opacho came scuttling up to him, a wide excited smile crossing her face.

"Hao-sama! Spirit of fire talked! He told Opacho that lady has gone to her match." She said happily.

Hao was shocked on both accounts. Why didn't Shinji tell him about her match? And since when did the spirit of fire speak? He couldn't help but sigh from relief at the former; at least the idiot hadn't gotten herself lost again. He pat the little girl fuzzy head and smiled lightly at her.

"Thank you Opacho. Will you go and get everyone? We have a match to watch."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx random x's! 

Shinji was still surprised at the sheer size of the stadium. She had forgotten just how big it was. Though to be fair, it had been and whole new lifetime since she had been there again, and her perspective was a little shorter than before thanks to her younger body age. She was so caught up in awe at the place that she didn't even realize her opponents had arrived and were facing them from the other end of the arena, looking at her with smug, mocking expressions on their faces.

"What is this? Are we expected to fight little girls?" one of them said, finally catching Shinji's attention.

"The only one who looks like he wouldn't run away and cry is the big guy." added the other.

"But after witnessing out awesome might he just might anyway!" laughed the last.

"We, the sea kings, are invincible!" cried the first, and then the three stuck an incredibly stupid pose and Shinji had to physically restrain herself from laughing out loud, covering her mouth with her hand. Sea kings? More like the three stooges. Though she was a little annoyed about the little girl comment.

Kekki on the other hand, was defiantly not laughing.

"These fools mock you mistress. They insult you, and the entire team. Are you really going to stand by and allow this?" he growled, glaring darkly at the three stodges who were too stupid to be terrified like a sane person would.

"It's fine Kekki. By the time this match is over they will be crushed by a humiliating defeat. Let them say what they want. It won't make a difference in the end. They'll just make themselves look more stupid when they lose." She replied, uncaring.

Kekki growled in response. He thought she was being too soft on them, but would listen to her none the less. Were it his choice their idiotic opponents would be dead by now.

Sensing her friend's displeasure Shinji continued, "Though if it bothers you so much Kekki you can take these idiots out on your own, you won't need our help anyway." She said smirking evilly. Clearly she was spending way too much time with Hao.

Kekki grinned wolfishly and nodded. He was going to have fun with this match.

Shinji and Rosie made themselves comfortable by sitting down, and then the fight began. Kekki charged forward at lightning speed, on second throwing an opponent flying to the left, then next grabbing another by the collar and tossing him into the third, sending them both crashing to the ground. They hadn't even known what hit them.

Shinji laughed at the shocked look on their faces, while Rosie looked as uninterested as ever.

"What spirit does Kekki possess?" she asked, only mildly curious about the answer.

"A wolf spirit. That's why he's got the crazy glowing claws and awesome speed. Though I think his origins may also play a part in that. Pretty convenient choice in a spirit ally though if you ask me." Shinji explained with a smile. She hadn't told the girl much about Kekki, but she had a feeling that after last night Rosie must have found some things out. She was never one to beat around the bush, if she wanted an answer she would get one.

Rosie nodded in understanding, and then something caught her eye, or more accurately someone. Sat in the stands, surrounded by his followers, was Hao. He was easy to spot. The menacing aura of him and his group meant a lot of empty seats surrounding them, despite how surprisingly over crowded the stadium was.

'_Odd how so many people come to see a match so early in the morning.'_ She thought absently, before shrugging and nudging Shinji in the side, gesturing towards Hao. Shinji' face lit up, and she waved at him happily. She was surprised he was there, and even more surprised that he dragged along his followers for the ride. Perhaps little Hao had some issues with being alone, poor baby. She laughed at that thought, and reaaally hoped he was listening in on her thoughts at that moment. By the slight frown on his face she was going to go with yes on that one.

"Mistress, the enemy is severely weakened. Shall I finish them off?" Kekki said, appearing beside her and pulling her attention back to their match. Shinji thought for a moment, before shaking her head.

"How about we let Rosie have a go? She's looking a little bored."

He nodded, and stood beside her much like a big, burly, animalistic body guard. Rosie sighed, getting up off the ground and slowly walked towards her opponent, dragging her cat plushie along the ground as she went. The three stooges were picking themselves up off the ground after a tough beating. But when they noticed Rosie coming towards them they yelled in outrage:

"This is an insult! The sea kings will not just lie down and allow ourselves to be beaten by a child!"

"Seriously, get a new name. You can't really live up to one like that. After all you haven't even landed a single blow yet." Shinji replied smugly.

"You can say that, little girl, but at least we are not relying on the strongest in your team to take the brunt of the battle. You have yet to do anything yourself." Replied stooge no 1.

Shinji bristled slightly at the little girl comment, but smirked none the less, and shrugged in response. "Think what you want, but it won't make a difference, you're going to lose anyway."

"We will not!"

Shinji didn't reply, and feeling a little mean she lifted the sleeve of her jumper and tapped in the three stooges' team name into her oracle bell. With a beep the machine on her arm gave her the information she was looking for, and her smirk grew at the results. "23, 529. That the combined amount of mana your team possess. Rosie here is only nine and she's already got more mana than you guys in her little finger. How did you even pass the first round with such a small amount of mana?" she asked smugly. _'Take that stooges! That's what you get for calling me a little girl. Now we're both humiliated.'_

If possible, the stooges faces went so pale they almost resembled ghosts themselves, but then just as quickly they turned red with anger and embarrassment.

"That is it! We will not be so humiliated! Sea kings, mucho grande tsunami attack!"

Shinji cracked up laughing, even as the tsunami was summoned and sent straight towards them.

"Ha-ha, what are you Spanish now? Man you guys are hilarious!" she laughed, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"Mistress, the wave is almost upon Rosie." Kekki informed her, bringing her attention once again back to the match.

"Right right, no problem." Shinji replied, standing up and patting the dust off her butt before calmly stepping forward.

"Ha-ha, you really think a little girl can stop our unstoppable attack? How sad." Mocked one of the stooges with a superior smirk. Shinji frowned.

"Honestly, why is it every person I fight automatically thinks I'm weak just because I'm a girl? How sexist is that! And for crying out loud I am not a little kid! So what if puberty hasn't been so kind to me this time around? I'll grow eventually, and when I do I'll-"

"Shinji, Rosie!" Kekki cried.

"Oh right, crap. Nindie."

Appearing at the call, Nindie stood tall; towering over the now seemingly pathetically small wave in her giant spirit of rain form, with Shinji perched smugly on her shoulder. The collective gasp of the people in the stands made her smirk. With a light flick of her wrist, a movement which the oversized Nindie mimicked, the wave stopped only feet in front of Rosie, and crumbled to the ground, flooding the stadium floor. A moment of silence followed, the shock apparent on everyone's face aside from Shinji's team and Hao, and then, the deafening roar of cheering surrounded them.

Shinji couldn't help but grin at the reception, and laughed happily as she jumped down off of Nindie's shoulders into the ankle deep water. The colossal spirit beside her shrank back into her usual human sized form and smiled.

"Something tells me we've already made our mark in this tournament." The ghost girl said with a chuckle.

"Yup!" Shinji chirped, "But the match isn't over yet."

Somehow, as miraculous as it was, the three stooges hadn't been completely drained of their mana, despite having their attack literally crumble around them.

"Persistent aren't they." Nindie stated with a frown.

Shinji shrugged, "yeah, but you have to admire them for it. Rosie you can finish them off now."

Rosie rolled her eyes as her sister promptly flopped down into the water and started casually making shapes out of its surface. With a sigh she turned back to the 'sea kings' and raised her arm, pointing at them with the usual blank expression.

"Go" she said. And suddenly, the black cat plushie in her hand sprang to life, glowing an eerie green colour, and charged towards the stooges. In a second it had devastatingly shattered all of their mediums with its sharp claws, and they fell to the ground in defeat.

The match was over.

"And the winner is Team Awesome!" cried Radim, and then once again the stadium burst into applause.

Shinji grinned smugly to herself as they left the stadium, feeling quite pleased with the day's activity. Victory before breakfast. Nothing could be sweeter. Well, besides actually having breakfast. But she had to remember, it was only a very low level team and, as much as she hated to admit it, she would still need to step up her game if she was going to beat Hao and become shaman king. But for now she wouldn't think too much about it. Instead, she ran straight towards the nearest vending machine, almost dancing with joy as she went.

"Sweets on me guys!" she cheered.

"No thank you, I don't like sweets." Replied Rosie.

"I'm afraid I must agree with Rosie on this one mistress." Added Kekki, "I'm not fond of sweet things either."

Shinji stared at the two like they were crazy. How could they not like sweets? But then she realized that meant more for her and she shrugged it off and turned her attention back to the machine.

"Okay whatever. Now, what should I have?"

"There's a packet of the cookies you like so much on the top row." a voice whispered right beside her ear as an arm snaked around her waist. Shinji almost jumped out of her skin.

"H-Hao! Holy crap! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Hao laughed in response and let her go, stepping back and smirking as she turned and glared lightly at him. "I didn't sneak, as usual you were just too stupid to realize I was there." He replied cockily.

"I am not stupid! I was just distracted. And quit raining all your negativity on my parade. Shouldn't you be saying 'well done Shinji, you did awesome in that match' like a good sort-of-but-not-really-a-boyfriend boyfriend?" Shinji replied, punching in the numbers for her cookies into the machine.

"You hardly did anything other than show off."

"Ha, that's rich coming from you! And at least I don't hog the battle; I actually let my team mates fight. We _share _the match. Ever heard of that Hao? _Sharing?_"

"Why would I do that? The only reason I even have a team is because it's required for this round. Besides, it's not like they need to fight with me there."

"You idiot Hao, that is totally not my point." Shinji said with a huff, before angrily stuffing a cookie into her mouth and then getting distracted by the sweet taste, "Oh my god these cookies are so good!"

"Let me try." Hao said, reaching for the bag only to have it snatched away by a wide eyed Shinji.

"No! My cookies." She cried, holding them to her chest possessively.

Hao rolled his eyes, "and you say I have problems sharing."

"It's different when cookies are involved!"

It was at that moment that the three stooges decided to walk in, stooge no 1 looking royally pissed as he stomped towards Shinji.

"You cheated!" he yelled loudly, pointing accusingly in her face. Shinji just looked at him, confused.

"Excuse me?"

"You cheated, I don't know how you did it, but I know you did!"

Shinji continued to stare at him blankly.

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

Stooge no 1 looked shocked for a moment, and then his anger returned tenfold.

"How can you forget already? We only just had a match!" he all but screamed.

"…oh now I remember, your one of the three see geeks!"

"Sea kings!"

"Hmm no, I think see geeks suits you better. You guys defiantly aren't kings." She replied with a mocking grin.

"Why you insolent little-"

"Excuse me."

"What?" the stooge snapped, before going wide eyed and pale. It was Hao who had interrupted him, and it was Hao who he had snapped at. And now, it was Hao who had a cruel smirk on his face, looking down on the stooge with a cold burning flame in his eyes.

"Get out. Now. Or you won't have a mouth long enough to make any more pathetic accusations at _my _girlfriend."

Fear had unfortunately frozen the stooge in place, but luckily the other sea geeks grabbed him and then ran swiftly out of the room.

Shinji smirked, "You know, I could have sworn we agreed not to date yet, so you probably should have said almost-but-not-really-a-girlfriend girlfriend."

"Yes, because saying that wouldn't make me sound completely stupid." He replied.

"Honestly, with the glare you were giving him I think the guy would have been too scared to care." She laughed, "Ah man that was hilarious, and did you see his face? Priceless."

"I marvel at how you were able to tolerate such insolence for so long. If he had come to me with such a pathetic accusation I would have killed him on the spot."

Shinji shrugged, "well it's not like he could do anything about it anyway. And besides, I know I wasn't cheating and so does everyone else. You just over react Hao."

"I do NOT over react."

"Of course you don't, and I am a purple and green sugar plum fairy." She replied sarcastically, popping another cookie in her mouth and smiling happily.

Hao smirked and swiftly grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her towards him, planting his lips on hers. In her shock, her mouth slipped open, and he took that as an opportunity to explore her mouth, his tongue roaming around and stealing some of her cookie. As he pulled away he licked his lips, and his smirk grew as he noticed her red face and startled expression.

"Hmm, I can see why you like them so much. That was a good cookie."

"Y-you…" Shinji began, pointing a shocked finger at him as she fumbled with her words.

"Me?" Hao prompted, finding the whole situation extremely entertaining.

"You… you thief! I can't believe you did that! And in front of Rosie no less!" she cried, both embarrassed and outraged.

Hao shrugged, "I'm sure she's seen people kiss before."

"It's true, I have." Rosie stated, making Kekki laugh aloud and Hao grin triumphantly.

"Rosie! You're not supposed to agree with this pervert!"

"Wow you haven't called me a pervert in a while, you must be pissed."

"Don't swear in front of Rosie! And don't _you _say you've heard people swear before." She said, turning on the little girl.

"But I have." Replied Rosie blankly.

"Oh my god!"

Everyone laughed (minus Rosie who never laughed, and Shinji who was silently fuming), and then Nindie popped in.

"Hate to interrupt your little whatever, but Shinji, you ready?" she asked.

"Ready for what?" Hao said curiously.

"Oh, me and Nindie are having a girl's day out. I'll see you guys later okay?"

"Wait, we still have stuff to talk about, remember?"

"Oh right…uh… we'll talk tonight, sorry Hao. See you!" Shinji replied, hurrying after Nindie and leaving Hao alone with her team mates.

Silence followed.

"Sooo…." Kekki began awkwardly, "Lunch anyone?"

_Wooooooow that took me ages to type up. It didn't help that I accidentally got my note book covered in candle wax so I had to pry every page open. The pages went all see through too, so I couldn't read half of what I had written well lol =] this was actually only the first half of this chapter but I got a little carried away when writing so I've had to split it in half again. Hopefully I can find the time 2 type the next chapter up by the end of the week =]_

_Anyway, review please people! My next target is 60! =]_


	27. C27 Hao vs Xlaws

**Hi everyone! Sorry once again for the super late update . you know what they say, time flies and all that =] now I know this wasn't actually supposed to be updated until Wednesday (the day I finally finish school!) but I just couldn't help myself =] and thanks everyone who reviewed, because of u I am at 61 REVIEWS! 1 review more than I was hoping for! now I'm not going to reply to everyone's reviews right at this second because unfortunately I do have tons of coursework to do and it would take me another hour just to reply to them all, but I promise I will send everyone that did review a private message by the end of the week =] so anyway, here's the long awaited chapter! Hope it doesn't disappoint =]**

Chapter 27 – Hao vs Xlaws

"Mmm this is so good!" Shinji cried happily, tears of joy streaming down her face and the spoon still hanging from her mouth as she spoke. The three girls were sat in one of the booths in patche café, Shinji with a half-eaten strawberry cheesecake in front of her, and Rosie (who had somehow managed to tag along after ditching Hao and Kekki at the stadium) silently sipped a cup of Jasmine tea. Nindie (being dead and all) had nothing, but that didn't really bother her. Instead, she found her amusement by watching the funny faces Shinji pulled as she ate.

"Mmm"

"Are you going to make that sound after every bite you take?" Nindie asked, laughing at the smear of cream Shinji had somehow gotten on her nose.

"Only the good ones." Shinji replied with a grin.

"Which basically means yes." Nindie counted, smiling at her friend.

"Hurry, we can't miss this match!" a girl cried, hurrying past them and tugging a reluctant man along by his sleeve.

For once, Rosie's interest was spiked up. "Whose match?" she asked.

The girl barely shot her a glance as she answered: "its Hao vs the X laws!" and then quickly rushing out of the shop, the man in toe.

"The X laws huh?" Shinji said, stuffing more cheese cake into her mouth. "That can't be good. But I'm sure Hao will be fine. He always is after all."

Nindie and Rosie exchanged a look.

"You aren't worried?" Nindie asked, watching her friend fidget around in her seat.

"Nope, not a bit. Hao can handle himself. And I'm sure whatever the X laws have planned can't be too bad."

Fidget, fidget, fidget.

"Are you sure? Don't you want to go and see the match?"

"Nope, not at all! We said we were going to spend the day together and that is exactly what we're going to do!" Shinji replied stubbornly.

"Shinji, quit trying to fool me. I know that you're anxious about this. You always fidget when you're worried about something. We can go and see the match."

"But I promised we'd have a-"

"A girl's day out. It's the evening now. So technically you haven't broken any promises. And besides, in kind of curious about what those crappy X laws are plotting." Nindie replied, nodding at her own logic.

Shinji smiled gratefully.

"Thanks Nindie" she replied, before quickly stuffing the remains of her cheesecake into her mouth, slapping the money for everything down on the table, and darting out of the booth.

"Thanks for the food Karim, money's on the table, bye!" she called, and without waiting for a reply she rushed out of the store, Nindie and Rosie following close behind her.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

By the time they made it to the arena the match had already started, and the place was packed. It seemed that no one wanted to miss the long awaited match between Hao and the X laws, though whose side these people were on Shinji could only guess at, since neither team was very popular.

"Hey, over here!"

Shinji looked around in confusion. They weren't calling her were they?

"Hey Shinji!"

Apparently they were, and after a moment of looking around Shinji spotted someone mildly familiar. Hao's clone of a twin brother was waiving at her with a lazy smile on his face. She grinned back, and then the three girls wondered over to him and his group.

"Hey Yoh." Shinji greeted.

"Hi. Come to see the match?" he answered.

"I can't think of any other reason to be here. What's happened so far?"

"Hao's killed two of the X laws already!" Cried a blue haired boy in outrage.

Yoh looked down sadly.

"And now it looks as if the last one is planning something big." added an angry looking Chinese boy with a spike on his head.

Shinji nodded and turned her attention to the match.

"Shinji, I can't see." Said Rosie, catching her sibling's attention. The poor girl was too short to see over the wall surrounding the second level of the arena where they stood.

"Oh, sorry Rosie." Shinji replied, raising the ground where the small girl stood into a makeshift stool, and making her tall enough to see over the wall to watch the match.

Yoh, the only one who noticed, smiled and asked if she could do the same for a very short human boy called manta. Shinji nodded, and then there were two makeshift stools at the edge of the arena.

'The Patche officials won't like this, they'll say I'm trashing the place' she thought, before shrugging the thought away. 'oh well, it's not like I can't fix it.' she turned her attention back to the match just in time to see that the spirit of fire had captured the souls of the two dead X laws and was lifting them towards his mouth. Shinji went wide eyed when she realized what was about to happen. 'They may not like me trashing the place, but I can't believe the Patche are allowing THIS to happen!' she thought, 'well I'm sure not going to just sit back and watch'. She sucked in a deep breath, and then yelled as loud as she could at the fire shaman below.

"HAO YOU BASTARD! You let those spirits go, or I swear I will kick your ass so hard your grandchildren will feel it!" she bellowed, making the group of shaman beside her almost jump out of their skin.

There was no way Hao could miss that loud mouth, and besides, no one would dare scream at him like that aside from her. The spirit of fire froze, letting his hand droop slightly as both he and his shaman turned their heads towards the stands. Shinji was leaning forwards slightly over the wall, her knuckles going white from gripping the edge in anger, and her eyes had turned a deep blood red as she glared at him so furiously he had to stop himself from wincing. It wasn't that he was afraid. They both knew that she wouldn't be able to beat him so it was a fairly empty threat. Still, he knew that if he didn't listen he would never hear the end of it. He had only just fixed their relationship, and he didn't want to ruin all of that effort just for a few worthless souls. The problem was he had a reputation to uphold.

'Screw the reputation.' He thought, 'I'm going to be the shaman king, it doesn't matter what a few pathetically weak shaman think of me.'

The spirit of fire understood without Hao having to say anything, and slowly released the spirits from his tight grip.

Shinji smiled triumphantly, her eyes fading into their regular blue, and she sat back into the stone chair she had summoned from the ground a moment before, feeling quite pleased with herself. Yoh and his friends however, stared at her with open mouths, all but the angry blonde girl who for some strange reason didn't appear surprised.

"Did Hao just… listen to you?" the blue haired boy asked uncertainly.

Shinji shrugged, "It looks that way."

"Why would he… who are you?" cried the blue haired boy.

Shinji opened her mouth to speak, but someone else beat her to it.

"Shinji Lemora." The angry blonde girl explained, "she helped Yoh's ancestors defeat Hao five hundred years ago."

"How did you know that?" Shinji asked curiously.

"I'm marrying into the Asakura family, it's important that I know their history." The blonde replied indifferently.

Shinji looked over at Yoh with a 'You're marrying her?' face, something which Yoh replied with a smile and slight nod.

"Wait, wait, wait… you helped to kill Hao? But that would make you five hundred years old!" cried the short boy manta, catching her attention.

"Actually, I'm something over a thousand, though you forget the exact date when you get to my age." She replied with a grin.

"But how do you look so young?"

"A lot of plastic surgery."

Everyone gave her a horrified look, and she laughed.

"I'm kidding! I reincarnated, something you all must have heard of seeing as you seem to know a lot about him."

"Is that why he's scared of you then? Because you killed him five hundred years ago?" asked the blue haired boy.

"Well, I would hardly say he's scared of me. More that he finds me reaaally annoying sometimes," Shinji replied with a light smile, "honestly I'm surprised he puts up with me, most of our conversations end up in a fight one way or another."

"…puts up with you? Why? Is it because you're too strong so he can't kill you?"

"You would think that considering our history and all, but he's actually stronger than me now. Though I like to think I'm catching up. He almost killed me almost a year ago, but Nindie, my spirit ally, convinced him not to finish me off."

"And he hasn't tried to kill you since?" asked Manta in confusion.

"Nope. Weirdly enough we've actually grown pretty close. He's still an ass, just not as big of an ass as before I guess." She replied with a shrug.

The Chinese boy was the first to recover from his stupor, and swiftly pointed his sword at her face merely an inch away, glaring darkly.

"You're working for Hao." He accused.

"she glared back, batting the offensive weapon out of her face only to have it brought straight back up again, "for crying out loud, just because I like the guy doesn't mean I'm one of his brain dead lackeys!"

"But he's trying to kill all humans! How can you like someone like that?" cried the blue haired boy in outrage.

She shrugged, "it doesn't matter, I'm going to be shaman king, not him."

"So you're going to kill him again?"

"No, I'm just going to kick his ass when we finally meet in the tournament." The others looked doubtful, but she shrugged it off, "Think what you want but that is what's going to happen."

Suddenly there was a loud explosion, and everyone whipped their back towards the fight. Hao was stood atop a glowing blue spirit of fire, his hair seeming to stand on end as it whipped around his head.

"Crazy nudist." Shinji muttered, noticing that once again he was without his poncho.

"What the hell happened?" asked the blue haired boy (Shinji was really going to have to remember some of their names).

"The remaining X law trapped himself and Hao inside the arena with the help of the arch angels, and used a specially designed grenade to suck all the air out in the hopes of killing Hao" explained Rosie expressionlessly, "needless to say it didn't work."

"But why? No one could possible survive something like that!"

"Don't forget, Hao has mastered the elements. He simply changed the spirit of fire into a water based spirit, and by doing so the spirit of fire no longer needed oxygen to function."

Shinji couldn't help but chuckle, "always one step ahead of me isn't he? Okay Nindie, we're leaving." She said, jumping up from her chair.

Nindie materialised beside her, looking confused, "What? Why?"

"We're going to train. I refuse to lose to him, so we're going to practice that technique."

The ghost grinned at her shaman with a determined gleam in her eyes.

"All right, let's do it!"

And with that the two girls darted out of the stadium with Rosie trailing along after them after waiving a quick goodbye to Yoh and his friends.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

By the time the water shaman and her spirit returned home it was late into the night. Rosie had left them to train alone many hours ago, and was already in bed as they crept back into the house. The lights were out, and Shinji guessed that Kekki was out doing his own thing because he defiantly wasn't home, but she wasn't really fussed. Right now the only thing she cared about was a nice hot shower for her aching limbs, and then the comfort of her own bed.

She stepped out of the shower, warm, content and uncaring about the water dripping little puddles onto the floor as she walked into her room. A towel modestly covered her body as she found a change of clothes.

"Well that was a sight I wasn't expecting to see. Not that I'm complaining of course."

Shinji almost jumped out of her skin, and whirled around to see Hao lounging casually on her bed with a smirk plastered across his lips.

"Hao! Could you at least warn me before you pop out like that?" she cried, feeling more than a little self-conscious, and cursing herself for not using a bigger towel.

"I've been here all evening. Rosie even cooked for me. Once again you just failed to notice that I was here." He replied, controlling the urge to laugh at her, "How was training?"

Shinji looked at him, mildly shocked, "You're really going to ask me that?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well I just thought… oh never mind. It was fine. I practiced a few techniques I haven't done in a while. Nothing big." she replied, moving to her closet and pulling out a pair of pyjamas for the night. "Now turn around, I need to change."

"Why? I'm going to see it all eventually anyway." He replied, smirking more when she turned bright red.

"Y-you pervert! No you're not!" she cried, pulling the towel tighter around herself.

"Well if we don't do it how are we going to have any kids?"

"K-kids?"

Hao nodded.

"B-but I don't want any kids! I'm only fifteen for pity's sake! I can't handle kids!"

"Your body is fifteen, you are over a thousand, remember?" Hao pointed out.

"Exactly! My body is fifteen and you want me to pop out a baby with these tiny hips!" Shinji countered, slightly panicked.

He shrugged, "I'm not saying right now; more like a year or two."

"More like never!"

Hao chucked lightly, "you'll change your mind eventually."

"No I won't!"

"Yes you will."

"Gah! That is it! I'm changing in the bathroom!" She cried, stomping out of the room and slamming the door behind her. Less than a minute later the door creaked back open and a slightly sheepish Shinji shuffled back into the room. "Forgot my clothes." She mumbled, grabbing them off the edge of her bed and practically running out of the room again.

Hao laughed. She was such an idiot sometimes.

Eventually she came back in; looking embarrassed, and fully dressed in her pyjamas.

"Get off. I'm going to bed." She said to Hao, who was still happily lounging on her bed.

"I don't think so." He replied, smirking devilishly at her.

"Hao-"

He quickly cut her off by grabbing her arm and tugging her forward so that she stumbled onto the bed and into his open arms. A deep blush settled on her face as he hugged her to his chest.

"You were at my match today." He stated.

"Shinji felt her face redden further, "How did you know?"

Hao laughed lightly, "I think the whole stadium knew you were there after you yelled at me from the audience."

"…Oh yeah, I forgot about that." She replied, flashing him a grin.

He couldn't help but smile back, and he let her turn around in his arms so that she was leaning against his chest before resting his head on her shoulder and tightening his grip on her waist.

"You're just dying to ruin my reputation aren't you?" he said, smiling into her neck.

"No, I'm just trying to turn you into a good person." She replied with a smirk.

"I am a good person." He insisted.

She rolled her eyes, "I mean a good person who doesn't kill everyone that pisses them off."

"I haven't killed you have I." he countered.

"Well I like to think of myself as a special case." She said with a grin, "besides, you know you can't kill me anyway."

"I am not getting into this again. Let's just get some sleep."

"Kay."

Not long after the two were under the covers with the lights off, Shinji comfortably hugging against Hao's chest with his arm resting across her waist. All she could hear was the soft sound of his breathing, and for a minuet she wondered if he was already asleep.

"…Hey, Hao?" she asked uncertainly.

"What?" he answered, making Shinji sigh in relief.

"… I guess one kid is okay."

Hao smiled and drew her closer, "if you insist."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**Well that's it from me for now, just like the reply to your reviews I will hopefully have the next chapter up by the end of the week =] so anywayz, REVIEW PEOPLE! This time I'm aiming for 70! And u know I looove to hear from u =] for now I'm going to get on with some joyous media cw….goodie -.- so bye for now =]**


	28. C28 A day off part 1

**HELLO! Wow It's really been a while hasn't it? I'm super sorry about that! A number of things have kept me really busy and I've also been suffering from a bit of writers block with this story that has driven me crazy and to be perfectly honest I forgot about it a little =/ But I am back! And even if it does take me a while I want everyone to know that I will never just abandon this story, I've gotten this far and I am sticking it out damn it! Lol =] Just so u guys know I'm actually supposed to be writing a 2000 word essay for art right now, but I figured I would update 1****st**** .**

**And WOW! I swear u are all immensely awesome to have stuck by me and reviewed even with my huge delay . 72 REVIEWS PEOPLE! WOW! Thank you all for still reading and reviewing =] I do read them all, even when I don't have the time to reply . Now I'm just going to bugger off and let you all read lol =]**

Chapter 28- A day off- part 1

Shinji wondered aimlessly through patch village. The last few weeks had flown by so quickly, and she had already fought three other teams, defeating each almost as easily as the last. She refrained from using Nindie's spirit of rain form (which was something of a disappointment to the crowd) and allowed her team mates to take on the brunt of the battle so that they could practice their skills, while she happily messed around in the background with her water. During her second match she brought a packet of cookies with her into the arena, and kept herself busy buy tossing them in the air and catching them in her mouth. If it wasn't for her first display of power against the three stooges she was sure the other teams would have been more insulting towards her (though she had been called a Hao groupie by one unfortunate opponent, and he was swiftly knocked out by a powerful jet of water from Shinji for his troubles). All in all she had been quite busy, what with Hao's constant stalking, training in the evenings, and hanging out with Nindie or her team when she was free. The Xlaws on the other hand, hadn't bothered her once since their match against Hao, and Shinji couldn't help but feel a little relieved for it. She had however, managed to meet up with Yoh a couple of times for coffee before he was dragged off again by Anna to train. Hao wasn't quite sure how to react to Yoh and Shinji's new found buddy-buddy relationship, but decided to stay out of it none the less. He did decided to join the once in what was a very tense five minutes at patche cafe, until Shinji made a joke at his expense and somehow the atmosphere suddenly shifted into a more relaxed one.

Today however, seemed to be a rare moment for Shinji to catch her breath and spend some time alone. Hao was off doing something with his followers, _'no doubt terrorising some poor shaman or another' _she thought absently with a light frown, Nindie was busy trying to help the spirit of fire remember his old name (because it was clear now that it was a He, and because for whatever it was Hao was doing the spirit of fire wasn't needed)_ 'hmm, maybe Hao isn't terrorising anyone after all', _Kekki and Rosie were practicing a new tag-team technique together, and Yoh had been forced into another agonising training session by Anna. For a moment she debated on joining him to make it a little less painful, but quickly decided against it. She was pretty sure Anna hated her, and no doubt the boy would get it in the neck afterwards. Needless to say, Shinji was pretty bored.

As she walked through the town however she came to realize one thing. Everyone was staring at her, some wearily and some in awe, but most seemed to be avoiding her. It didn't take being a mind reader to know what they were all thinking, and suddenly she felt bad that Hao had the misfortune of that ability. They recognised her from the matches, and probably all knew of her association with Hao. She frowned. Well people sure knew her name now, but it wasn't for the right reasons. The thought irritated her to no end, both for the fact that she had gained a reputation as a Hao groupie just as the opponent in her last match had said, and that Hao's own reputation was so bad that if anyone even spoke to him they would be marked as an enemy. She could feel her anger rising at the thought, and as much as she would love to shoot some harsh words and maybe some high powered jets of water at the judgemental shaman, it would hardly help her sudden bad reputation.

With a few brief glances into some shop windows and realizing that she hadn't even really been looking, Shinji decided she would go elsewhere. She wasn't really in the mood for shopping anymore, and even if she was she didn't have the money anyway. Being a thousand years old did nothing to fill her pockets with cash. Grumbling lightly to herself about the injustice of it all she made her way out of town and flopped down on a nearby river bank to bask in the sun away from the public eye. Her pale skin could do with a bit of colour. With that thought in mind she tugged off her tee-shirt, uncaring that her bra was now on display to the world, and carelessly threw it over her shoulder. She probably should have been a little more modest with her appearance, especially after the looks she kept getting in town, but it never really crossed her mind. At least until she heard an irritated grumble, and her shirt suddenly hit her in the face. She jumped up from her spot on the grass with a start, peeling her shirt away and whirling around to face the one who threw it at her. The boy with the point on his head and a permanent sour expression on his face stood a little way away, the one she recognised as Yoh's friend, his arms crossed against his chest in an irritated manner.

'_What was his name again? Len...Ren...Men... oh what does it matter? He threw my own shirt at me damn it!'_

"Hey, what's the big idea!" She snapped, glaring over at him.

He shot her an equally menacing look.

"You threw it at me, I was just returning the favour." He bit back.

Shinji crossed her arms over her chest, her tee-shirt hanging from one hand. It was too late for modesty, so why bother? He was too busy glaring at her to pay attention to what she was wearing, or rather not wearing.

"Gee, thanks. How about next time you try to avoid hitting a girl in the face?" she replied, and then deciding that she wasn't going to be intimidated by him and instead lay back down on the grass using her shirt as a pillow, and casually returned to basking in the sun. He sent another argumentative retort her way but she chose to ignore it and closed her eyes. After a few moments of silence she heard him shuffle around and sit beside her.

'_Well that I didn't expect.'_ She thought, and then curiously opened one eye to look up at him. He caught her glance for a moment, and then turned away to look at the river in front of them. They sat in a strangely companionable silence, and Shinji found her eyes closed again and her body relaxing more fully.

"So what's up?" she asked casually, her mild curiosity getting the better of her.

"I'm avoiding my sister." He explained after a pause, "She's been making me shop for clothes with her all morning."

Shinji nodded mutely in understanding, and another bout of silence fell over them until he spoke again.

"What are your intentions towards Yoh?"

That surprised her. She sat up slightly, propping herself up onto her arms and giving herself a better look at him, a light frown crossing her face.

"Intentions?" she asked, a little confused.

"I know that you have been meeting up with Yoh from time to time, so I am asking you what your intentions are towards him." He repeated, casting her a look of warning.

Shinji found herself glaring at him again, annoyed that it was even being suggested that she had some underhanded scheme against Yoh, because clearly that was what he was implying.

"Are you asking this because of my association with Hao?" She asked, knowing the answer without it having to be spoken. His silence said enough. She sighed, suddenly feeling all of her thousand years. As much as she could understand the boys need to assure the safety of his friend, she was tired of these accusations. Her glare lost its intensity, and she sat up fully, turning her body to face him and sitting with her legs crossed.

"I have no bad intentions towards Yoh." She said, looking at him with a serious look on her face, "I like him as a person and consider him a friend. That's all. Hao has nothing to do with it."

"How can I trust you?" He asked, and though he was still glaring he had lost the layer of accusation behind his voice.

She thought about it for a moment. "When you found out Yoh was Hao's brother did you lose your trust in him?"

"No, but Yoh can't decide who he is related to, but you can decide who you associate with." He replied.

"Right, but Yoh also doesn't totally condemn Hao as a bad person either does he? Even when he knows about what his brother wants to do."

"But Yoh's his brother."

She smiled lightly at him, "Do you think that's the only kind of love there is in the world? Brotherly love?"

He gave her a confused look, but as understanding dawned on his face and he opened his mouth to speak, someone cut him off.

"Reeeeeeeeeeeen~"

Shinji turned her head, and spotted a green haired woman hurrying towards her with a light frown on her face. A few shopping bags were held in her hands, but the majority of them were carried by the Jiang Shi following closely behind her. Shinji felt her blood go cold, her eyes locked on the body moving towards her after the green haired woman. She wasn't sure when it had happened, but Ren stood up and greeted the woman who only stopped a little way in front of her. She didn't hear what was said between them, and didn't notice the odd look the woman was giving her. She couldn't take her eyes away from the Jiang Shi, and like a deer frozen in headlights she was frozen to the spot in fear. Ren called her name, but it didn't register in her mind, and it wasn't until the Jiang Shi took an attentive step towards her did her body move at all. She jumped to her feet in alarm, and scurried back a few steps. She vaguely noticed the look of confusion that crossed its face, across all of their faces.

"Shinji, what is wrong?" Ren asked, being heard by the water shaman for the first time. Her eyes flickered towards him for a moment, eyes that had gone a very pale grey, and then settled back on Lee Pyron, who seemed just as confused as he and Jun were.

"I-I have to go." She said, and then quickly spun on her heels and darted away in the opposite direction.

**Well there u go, another chapter =] As the title may have suggested, this is actually only part one of a chapter, so the next chapter will be up shortly, I'm just finishing it up now before I post it =D**


	29. C29 A day off part 2

Shinji ran as if the devil were after her, sprinting through the forest at a speed she didn't even know she was capable of. Her only thought was of putting some distance between herself and the Jiang Shi. It terrified her. The very thought of a dead body being able to move made her want to vomit. In the early years after Nindie had died Shinji was constantly plagued by the thought of her friend's waterlogged body creeping out from its grave to seek out revenge for its death. When she had learned from her grandmother what it really was to be a shaman it hadn't really done much to help the matter. Her nights were sleepless ones, and whenever she did manage to sleep she woke soon after screaming. Truth be told, Nindie's arrival hadn't gone as smoothly as Shinji had let Hao know. For weeks she had been convinced that the ghost of her best friend had returned to take her life in return for her own loss. It wasn't until Nindie had saved her from a wolf attack that Shinji came to realize that her friend was truly there for her, and that the ghost girl didn't blame her for her death. Eventually Shinji grew accustomed to the spirits she was seeing around her, realizing that they weren't all out to get her. Jiang Shi however, were a completely different story. They were like the nightmares of her past coming to life, or more accurately they were brought back from the dead. It was lucky that she hadn't bumped into a Dàoshì or a Necromancer sooner, and although she had expected it to happen eventually it didn't make her anymore mentally prepared.

Eventually, after the adrenaline powering her body into motion had faded away and the fear was the only thing left powering her tired limbs, she collapsed onto the forest floor. Her lungs burned, and she lay there, gasping and sobbing in a heap in the dirt. Slowly she dragged herself between the roots of one of the surrounding trees and leaned against the bark, pulling her legs up to her chest and holding them there with her arms. Her head dropped down onto her knees and she began trying to calm herself down, breathing deeply between sobs.

'_It's okay, it's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone.' _she chanted over and over in her head.

She didn't hear the sound of footsteps approaching her over the sound of her own inner turmoil.

"Miss Shinji Lemora?"

Her head snapped up, and she quickly pulled herself to her feet and forced herself to breath normally. She couldn't do much else for her appearance, her hair was ragged, her eyes were puffy and tears stained her cheeks. Her tee-shirt was still back by the river bank, she had forgotten about it when she left, and now she had to stand half naked in front of the stranger watching her. It wasn't possible for her to feel any more vulnerable than she did right then. Despite everything, she stood confidently and faced the man in front of her with a calmed expression.

His face was equally blank, his average features held in a look of indifference. His eyes however, were hidden behind a pair of dark glasses. The man was dressed in a pristine suit, his shoes perfectly shined and impervious to the dirt of the woods around them, and his dark hair was slicked back so that even the wind shifting the leaves of the trees couldn't ruffle it. Overall he looked like a very wealthy middle aged business man, completely out of place to the surroundings and the ragged sixteen year old girl he stood in front of.

"Are you Miss Shinji Lemora?" he asked again, and Shinji realized that she hadn't actually said anything.

"Yes." She replied, surprised by how strong her voice sounded. There was a pause, and for a moment she felt self-conscious, sure that he was judging her against her usual appearance. She could almost hear his thoughts. This child is the famed water shaman? She's the thousand year old girl who killed Hao? She lifted her chin up defiantly. She might not look the part, but she sure as hell was going to act it. "And who are you?"

"My name is Mr Smith." The man replied.

"Mr Smith? Like in the matrix?" she asked, her mouth speaking before her brain could filter her thought. A small crease appeared in his brow. Well there goes her plan of trying to match her reputation. Oh well.

"I am here on The Masters orders to deliver a message." He continued, ignoring her question.

"Oh really?"

"His orders are that you break all connections with Hao Asakura, and join the X laws in their fight against him."

Shinji was stunned into silence. She was being ordered, _ordered _to leave Hao. And not only that, but join the X Laws! Was this man out of his mind? Somehow, all of her fears and self doubts flew from her mind. She was angry, and she was tired of being pushed around by a man that she only listened to out of respect for her sister's family. Her eyes burned red with rage.

"You know, I've had a really bad day," she began, sounding a lot more casual about it then she felt before flicking her fiery gaze up to meet his eyes hidden behind the dark glasses, "So you can tell your master to shove his orders up his ass. I'm through listening to him." She paused for just a moment, and then swung around and started walking away. Somehow, she felt lighter, and for the first time in a few hours, felt good about herself. She was going to be her own master from now on; the opinions of others didn't matter because she knew that she was doing the right thing. The Master would defiantly not like it when he heard the news, and no doubt the whole family would turn against her now, but she was never really that fond of them anyway so she couldn't care less. Rosie was the only problem she may have to face, but hopefully the young girl would understand.

"Such a pity." She heard the man say behind her. Her brow creased with confusion for a moment and then she felt something tearing its way through her body faster than she could blink. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream and blood spilled out over her lips. Her whole body froze in place. She stared ahead of her, wide eyed with shock, and then she shakily looked down at her stomach. The man's fingers were poking out from a gaping hole in her skin, each one glowing a bright blue that stood out sharply against the blood that pooled around each digit like crimson rings. "You were such a useful tool." The man said into her ear, breathing his cool breath over the side of her face in a way that made her cringe. She didn't need to see his face to tell that it was contorted into a wicked sneer. And then he wrenched his hand away from the inside of her body and the blood spurted out from her stomach. She fell to her knees, clutching her shaky hands over the fist sized hole in her body.

'_It's probably a good thing I'm not wearing my shirt after all, it would be ruined after this.' _She found herself thinking absently, before coughing up blood and wincing sharply in pain.

The man stood over her, producing a handkerchief from his breast pocket and carelessly began whipping away the blood from his hand.

"I was expecting more of a fight," he said, "but you're quite weak aren't you. I don't know why The Master wasted his time with you. It's clear the only strength you have comes from your spirit."

Shinji frowned, slamming her palm down onto the ground. The action caused her to cough up more blood, but it created the effect she wanted. The ground beneath the man rose up underneath him in sharp, piercing spikes, and one drove its way into his leg before he was able to move. He cried out in pain, and barely managed to doge as the next lot came hurdling towards him. Shinji would have loved to cheer over the small victory, but her face was pinched with concentration, and it took all her strength to fight back while at the same time hold her body still as she tried to stop her blood flow with her mana. Small beads of sweat trickled down her brow, and her face was considerably paler. It hurt to breathe let alone use her mana. She needed Nindie. Hell she needed anyone that would distract the matrix wannabe long enough for her to patch her stomach up. She would even settle for Hao, even thought she would never hear the end of it from him. She could feel her strength peeling away.

While she had been struggling to heal herself, the man had been dodging the earth missiles she sent at him. The deep gash in his leg made his movements sluggish, and his suit was torn in several places. Another rock flew towards him, knocking him backwards. He stumbled over a tree root and fell, narrowly missing one that flew towards his head. His glasses flew away from his face and clattered to the ground. The man braced himself for the next attack to come, but none did. He looked over at Shinji. Her back was to him, and she was sat perfectly still in the position that he had left her, crouched down on the ground and holding her stomach with her arms. His lips curled into a sneer, and a crazed look came into his dark eyes. He slowly stalked towards her, like a hunter towards its prey. One of his arms began to glow blue.

"What's the matter little girl? Run out of mana already?" he mocked, "I'm going to enjoy killing you."

The man was completely insane. There was nothing else to it. It had become clear to her now that The Master knew this would happen, he knew she would have refused and so he sent someone to kill her off. She would have expected to figure it out sooner but the pain was clouding her thoughts. She couldn't help it. The blood loss and damage to her internal organs was too much to for her to simply brush off to continue fighting. If she wasn't able to heal herself now then she would die. How she wished that she had Hao's gift of healing. She felt the man approaching her, and body shook with fear. She couldn't die now; if she did no one would be able to knock sense into Hao. Besides, if she did die he would kill her! There was no helping it. She needed Hao, and she needed him now. She scrunched up her eyes, and only one thought entered her mind.

'_HAO, HELP!' _she screamed the thought as loud as she could inside her head, praying that somehow he would hear her.

"Shinji?"

She looked up, her eyes wide in surprise. It wasn't Hao that stood before her but Ren. His golden eyes seemed to mirror her own shock, and she noticed her tee-shirt was held in his tight grasp. She almost laughed, but the small movement sent another spurt of blood bubbling out of her mouth.

It only took a second for Ren to assess the situation, and he quickly dove past her towards the man, his over soul already active. Shinji found herself surprised for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. That Ren had been the one to find her was shocking enough, but the fact that he had gone to defend her so quickly was almost unreal. She found herself wondering if she was hallucinating or something, she could hear the fight behind her, but didn't have the strength to figure out who was winning or what was going on. Instead she focused on patching herself up, and even though she was now able to focus her full attention on her wound, it was still an excruciatingly slow process.

Ren bit back a cry as he was thrown into a tree, his back slamming into the bark and knocking the wind out of him. A moment later a glowing hand was aimed towards his face and he ducked just fast enough for it to miss and crash straight through the tree. With a groan the tree slowly began to fall, but Ren didn't have time to wonder about it, and he quickly blocked the next attack with his Bâo-Lèi Sword before jumping away. The man was fast, even with his injured leg, and it took all of Ren's concentration just to dodge or block each attack that came at him. At this rate he was going to lose.

Shinji held her breath as she moved, turning her body and sitting so that she could see the fight. She could sense Ren weakening, and was nowhere close to healed but at least she had stopped the blood flow. There was a loose root next to the man's foot, and she quickly concentrated on it, twisting it around his leg so that it held him in place. It wasn't much but if she could hold him down Ren might stand a better chance at beating him.

She felt the heat beside her before she saw it, and then a burst of bright flames rose up beside her and caught her attention. A figure stepped out of the flames, but it was not a face that she recognised. His face was wide, and his figure tall and broad at the shoulders and arms. He wore nothing but a loose pair of jogging bottoms that were burned off up to the middle of his knees. His skin almost glowed like fire itself, as if the flames were licking beneath his skin. He walked slowly towards her, clumsily as if he were using his legs for the first time, and crouched in front of her. One large, shaky hand came towards her stomach, but oddly she wasn't afraid of what he might do, and his hand only hovered above her own that held her wound. It was then that she noticed his eyes, pupil-less eyes that glowed a strange lime green. They started at her intensely, capturing her gaze in her own, and suddenly she knew who this strange man was.

Slowly, she moved one of her own bloodied hands away from her stomach, and placed it on his shoulder, feeling the heat radiating from his strange skin.

"Please... get Hao for me." She asked weakly.

He held her gaze for a few seconds, as if processing the request, and then nodded, getting to his feet. He left as quickly as he came: disappearing in a blaze of fire. The whole thing had taken less than a minute, but it had been enough to take her mind off of the fight. She looked up in time to see Ren knocked off of his feet and his Bâo-Lèi sword flew out of his hand. The man had broken free of her root bindings, and was charging towards a helpless Ren.

The next moment happened so quickly Shinji was amazed that she had caught it at all. As the man was rushing towards Ren, Hao appeared only a foot in front of her, the flames still dying away around him as the spirit of fire plucked the man up off the ground, clamping him so tightly in his huge fiery hand that he screamed out in agony. Shinji could hear the bones crushing, but she couldn't bring herself to pity him. Apparently neither could Hao.

"Burn him."

Shinji felt her blood run cold from the chill in his voice. He was mad, oh he was so very mad.

As if hearing her thought he turned his head towards her, trapping her gaze in the burning pits of fire in his eyes, and then the screams from the man died as he was consumed by flames. The spirit of fire opened his huge hand, and the ashes of his remains were caught in the wind, and blown away.

Ren pushed himself up onto his feet, panting lightly. This was the first and only time he would ever be glad to see Hao, though he would never admit it. He was covered in a number of cuts, but thankfully none were deep enough for any serious damage, though he did find himself wincing as he picked his sword up from the ground. This would be a problem for a while, but nothing he couldn't deal with.

The spirit of fire had vanished, fading away in the usual ghostly fashion, but not before Shinji caught the attention of his large glowing eyes over Hao's shoulder and shot him a grateful look. She thought she caught a hint of a smile on his strange face. The day never ceased to surprise her.

Hao moved towards her then, crouching down in front of her and carefully pulling her hands away from her wounded stomach. His face was a perfect mask as he assessed the damage and placed his own hand over the wound to heal it, but she could hear the slight shake in his voice as he spoke. From rage or worry she wasn't quite sure, but she expected a bit of both.

"After I heal you, I'm going to kill you."

She laughed, and then wished she hadn't. It felt like her insides had been torn apart, and they actually had. No doubt The Master was going to be pissed that his little messenger boy had been bumped off and the water shaman was still up and running. For the most part at least. At the moment though she didn't really care, and for now she would focus on healing. Hao's hands were warm; it felt nice against her cool skin.

"Ren saved me you know." She said when the pain had lessened enough for her to speak without feeling the need to clutch her stomach.

Hao glanced at her briefly and then drew his attention back to the work at hand.

"He shouldn't have needed to." He replied.

Shinji frowned, and weakly hit him over the head.

"You ass! It's not my fault the bastard attacked me from behind!"

"...I didn't mean it like that."

She frowned at him in confusion for a moment, and then it hit her. He was blaming himself, just like he did when she was injured by Lyserg . The only difference was that her injuries were a lot more serious, and they were a lot closer than they were back then. A small laugh escaped her lips, and she reached up and wound her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You dummy, don't blame yourself for something that isn't your fault. Or I'll hit you." She threatened weakly, pulling herself away and shaking her fist.

Hao knew he should laugh, the fact that she was threatening him when she was almost on the verge of death was ridiculous, but he couldn't. He was too angry. His whole body shook faintly with rage, and the only thought that entered his mind was of how he wished that he could kill that man again, over and over in every possible way. How could Shinji have possibly gotten into this state so easily? Had she really gotten that weak? She was awful at sensing other peoples presences, but he had never thought it would make her such an easy target. If the spirit of fire hadn't come and found him she would be dead right now, there were no two ways about it. He wasn't surprised that she had trouble healing, her insides were so messed up that even he found it difficult. That she was still conscious seemed a miracle in itself. How was it that whenever he left her alone she somehow managed to get herself into trouble? She was so vulnerable, and it terrified him.

Her hand touched his cheek, and he looked up from his bloodied hands and her healing wound into her smiling face.

"Hao, I'm alright." Shinji said soothingly, placing her free hand on top of his own and aiding him in the healing. He nodded slightly, and brought his attention back to the job at hand. Between the two of them it only took a few minutes to heal her completely, though her body still felt weak from the whole ordeal, and her mana was running low.

Ren sat a little way away from them with his spirit ally, Bason, floating beside him, watching their interaction curiously. It didn't make sense to him. Why was the fire shaman helping to heal someone that would only hinder him in the competition? It was something he would have never have expected from Hao.

'_Do you think that's the only kind of love there is in the world? Brotherly love?' _ Shinji's words played over in his head.

Love. It seemed impossible to believe that Hao was capable of it, but the evidence was right there in front of him. Ren noticed with shock as a small smile played across the fire shaman's lips, and he kissed Shinji lightly on the forehead, before helping her to her feet and holding her steady with an arm around her waist. Shinji's gaze moved over to him then, and she said something to Hao that Ren couldn't quite hear, but the two slowly made their way over to him. He stood up as they approached and quickly schooled his expressions. Shinji smiled at him.

"Thanks Ren," She said, "I don't think I would have lasted much longer without your help."

"That's alright, I'm glad your ...better now." He replied a little awkwardly, casting a glance to her bare stomach. There wasn't even a trace of a wound anymore. Hao's power seemed impossible, and thought he wouldn't admit it; it made him feel weak in comparison. The fire shaman had killed the man in an instant like it was nothing, while Ren had fought against him for quite some time and cuts to prove it. Shinji seemed to notice something then, and she pulled away from Hao to move towards him. Hao grabbed her wrist to stop her, knowing her thought before she said it out loud.

"You're low on mana." He said simply.

Shinji rolled her eyes and shot him a irritated look. "I'm not a baby Hao, and it won't take much."

Ren stared at the two, unsure of what they were talking about. What wouldn't take much? They seemed to be having a silent conversation, each trying to beat the other with their gaze. Hao let go of her arm, and she smiled slightly before turning back towards Ren.

"You're hurt right? I'll heal you."

"No, I'm fine." Ren insisted, despite the irritating sharp pain in his arm.

She frowned at him, "Don't be stupid Ren, come here." Her hand reached out and pulled him towards her, but he didn't resist, even though his pride was demanding that he did.

Placing her hand over his chest, she closed her eyes and sought out each and every cut on his body, healing him from the inside out. He could feel a slight tingle over his skin, and then watched with wide eyes as the cut on his arm closed over without a trace. The stiffness in his limbs was gone, and he knew that so was ever other mark on his body left from the fight. Shinji smiled then, and opened her eyes. As she pulled her arm away she swayed slightly on her feet, and Hao grabbed onto her waist again to stead her.

"I told you it wasn't a good idea." He chide, and got an elbow in his ribs for it.

"Oh shut up Hao, it was worth it." She grumbled back, before turning her attention back to Ren, "How do you feel?"

Ren tested the weight of his sword in his hand, lifting it with a lot more ease that he had before. It was like he hadn't even fought at all.

"Good." He said simply.

Shinji nodded lightly, pleased with her work. Another small silence followed, and it was Hao who spoke next.

"So can someone please tell me why Shinji has no shirt on and why you were even here to help her in the first place?"

Shinji's face went bright red, and even Ren was sporting a slight blush. Both could tell that this did not look good.

"Hao, I swear to god it is not what it seems like," Shinji reassured, "I was trying to get a tan by the river and then I bumped into Ren, and then when I ah ... left I forgot to take my shirt with me."

"And then my sister told me to bring it to her." Ren continued, "But when I found her that man was trying to attack her."

'_I'll fill you in on the rest when we get back.' _Shinji thought, knowing Hao could hear her. He nodded, and then pulled his poncho up over his head and put it on Shinji. She looked ridiculous, but at least she was covered. If possible, her face went even redder, and her eyes skittered away from his naked torso.

"Crazy nudist." She muttered under her breath.

Hao smirked, "speak for yourself."

"I am not!"

Ren found himself frowning lightly as he watched the two shaman bickering between themselves. They really were an odd pair. He found himself wondering how much of this side Yoh had seen of his brother. He almost seemed...normal.

'_That's it, I'm leaving. These two are making me go crazy.' _He thought, casting Bason a look that they were leaving. Before he could move to go however, Hao spoke.

"We're leaving." He said, and before Shinji could even protest he grabbed her hand and the two disappeared in a ring of fire.

Ren stared at the spot where they once stood, and then shook his head.

'_Defiantly an odd pair.'_

**Wooooo this was a loooong chapter. My longest yet if I'm right =D My writers block is defiantly gone lol. I'm actually a little surprised with how this turned out, it was a lot more...violent than I had originally intended...oh well lol. Same as usual then guys, please review ! I really want to hear ur opinions on this =D And now that my writers block is gone I will defo be updating faster =D Time for my essay now though. Goodie .**


	30. C30 Eyes

**Woooo another chapter! I'm back baby! And I am on a roll! Worship me oh lovely people, for this is my 3****rd**** update in a few days! GO ME!**

**Thank u girlfun and starangel1765 for ur reviews! And yh star, I will totally read ur story at some point =D Glad I was of some help =D**

**Anywho, here's the next chapter! I am about to start working on the next one right now lol.**

Chapter 30 - Eyes

Hao was driving Shinji insane. A month and a half had passed since her brief brush with death, and since then he was constantly at her side. She felt like a child again, always having to be chaperoned wherever she went, and in the few moments that he wasn't able to stay with her he made his followers do it. This was one of those moments. Hao had a match, and although she wanted to go and watch, the idea of being surrounded by his followers while she did was less appealing. Instead, she decided a little training on the lake next to her house would better occupy her time. Team flower, however, were the ones stuck with guarding duty today, and although they didn't openly express their dislike for her, she knew they did behind her back. For the most part though they ignored her, and that was good enough.

As Shinji stood on the water's surface she calmed her mind, pushing back her irritation at having to have a baby sitter, and then moved into a sitting position. Today was about practicing her sense of awareness, listening to her surroundings, and effectively learning how not to be stabbed in the gut. Briefly, she allowed herself to run her fingers through the water, a small smile crossing her face, and then she righted herself, placed her hands in her lap, and closed her eyes. It was a lot easier to try than when Hao was around, because she could never focus long enough to truly concentrate on what she was trying to achieve. It wasn't that he tried to distract her, he was just the only thing she was able to focus on him. In a way it could be useful , but for the most part it was a hindrance. She wanted to be able to sense everything, not just one person. With that thought in mind, she tentatively reached out for her surroundings.

'_Alright let's see...there's water here...obviously, a rock there, a tree there, team flower over there. Hey wait-'_

"-hair is so ugly."

'_are they-'_

"-looks like a five year old."

'_talking about-'_

"- clothes are awful.."

'_me?'_

"-_s_o weak, I don't know why Hao-sama bothers with her."

"_Oh hell no! They are talking about me! I'm gunna kick their asses! No wait, I have a better idea. Hehehe.'_

On the inside Shinji was grinning evilly, but on the outside her face was a perfect calm mask. They wouldn't know what hit them.

She started off by making the smallest of movements with her fingers, not wanting to catch their attention, but when she realized they were too busy insulting her to notice she made her gestures bigger. The water beneath her followed the movement of her hand, twisting and rippling around her so that the only spot over the whole lake that was calm was the water she was sat on. Still they didn't notice, even though the lake was alive with violent movement. It wasn't until a wall began to form between them and Shinji, towering up from the surface so high that it blocked the light of the evening sun, that they turned towards her. Shinji, completely obscured from their view by the wall of water, could sense their surprise and panic. Absently she realized that her senses must be getting better, and then, with a wide grin, she thrust her palm forward, and directed the wave straight at them. It hit the trio of girls with such a force that the wind was knocked out of them, and they flew back, submerged under the water, until it slowly drained back into the lake. They coughed and spluttered, pulling air back into their lungs as they crouched on hands and knees, completely soaked.

Shinji took this as the opportunity to put the second part of her plan into action, and allowed her body slip under the water until she felt the bottom of the lake beneath her. There she sat, and waited. Breathing wasn't an issue. She had master that particular technique before she turned twenty in her first life, determined that she would never meet the same watery grave as her friend. Being a shaman that specialized in water made it easy.

She focused on team flower, trying to keeping her senses alert to their movement, but finding it harder now that she was submerged and surrounded by the water moving constantly around her. She frowned, but then something clicked. She was amazed that she hadn't thought of it sooner, but then it wasn't a technique she used often. Keeping her eyes closed, she calmed her mind again, but this time she felt within herself, focusing on the mana coursing through her body, dragging it up towards her eyes. The water around her body trembled, slowly inching away as some of her mana pushed out and arched around her, and then it settled as suddenly as the trembling began, and her mana seeped back into her body. The tension in her body relaxed, and when she opened her eyes she could see everything around her with vivid clarity. Just like before when she trained with Hao, her eyes had turned a startling pupil-less blue that moved and rippled like water. She smiled lightly to herself, and took in her surroundings. Everything, from the trees surrounding the lake and the fish lazily swimming past her, was alive with energy. If only she could walk around like this all the time, no one would be able to surprise her because she sensed every bit of life-force around her. But she knew it would seriously creep people out, and she was having enough problems with people avoiding her in the streets already. With a small internal sigh, she brought her attention back to team flower. She couldn't see their bodies exactly, but their mana was there, faintly making up their forms with three separate colours: one a silvery blue, one pink, and one orange.

'_And they said I was weak, their mana is so faint I can hardly see it at all!' _Shinji thought, and then smirked when their mana pulsed in a way that said they were panicked. She grinned, so far her plan was going well. They didn't know where she was, so they were panicking because if they couldn't find her Hao would get mad. Next they would go off in search for her, and then when the coast was clear she would sneak out of the lake and off to somewhere she could finally get some time alone. Not only would she get her privacy, but they would get in trouble. It was a win win situation for Shinji. But they didn't leave, and someone else was coming their way, she could see him approaching from the direction behind her. His mana was huge, glowing a vivid red that seemed like fire itself.

Hao.

She cursed, this was not going to plan at all.

'_Damn it! This is so unfair!'_

In a feeble attempt at hiding herself, she concealed her mana as best she could (though no doubt he already knew she was there), and let her mind go blank. The red glow moved around the edge of the lake, towards the weak glows of team flower, before stopping in front of them. Their glows pulsed violently, but Hao's remained steady, and then, after what she could only assume was a small conversation had taken place, Hao moved away from them and straight towards her, submerging himself in the lake. At first she could only see the large red glow coming towards her, but as he got closer his features became more defined until she could see him completely. He stopped in front of her, and smirked.

'_Jerk.' _She thought at him, but she let him take her hand and lead her out of the lake. The two came out dripping wet, but Hao dried them both before the sulking Shinji had even bothered to think of it. Yes she was sulking, her eyes downcast and a pout on her lips like a scolded child, even though Hao had yet to say a single word to her. Still, at least now above the water she could see everything in a much greater clarity with her eyes, and that thought made her smile along with the fact that even if she had been caught she still got to make a fool out of team flower.

Hao shot her a disapproving look, but she stuck out her tongue at him and crossed her arms defiantly. Team flower glared at her behind Hao's back, still soaked through from her stunt with the wave (Clearly Hao hadn't bothered to dry them off), but as she looked back at them with her own glare, which was all the more startling now that her eyes were pupil-less , they stumbled back in shock. Shinji frowned, more than a little irritated. Why did everyone have that reaction? Sure her eyes were a little odd, but come one, it's not like these people were human; they should expect the unusual. Hao took her hand then, and gave it a small squeeze.

"You can go." He said, turning to team flower. The three girls, after recovering from their shock, bowed and made a hasty exit.

"Lucky." Shinji muttered under her breath, though knowing full well that Hao could hear her. He chose to ignore it.

"Keep your eyes like that if you want, it doesn't bother me." Hao said.

Shinji frowned, if she didn't know about his mindreading that statement would have seemed random, but seeing as he was and she had been thinking about it earlier it didn't come at much of a surprise. Never the less it was an unbelievable thing to say, so she shot him a disbelieving look.

"Liar. You almost ran away the last time you saw them."

"That was then, this is now." He contradicted, "and I did not 'almost run away'."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say." She replied, waving him off, "Besides I don't want to be using my mana needlessly."

"Because apparently plotting against team flower is not needless." Hao countered sarcastically.

"It's not! It was for my great escape! Which you ruined by the way."

"You shouldn't have been trying to run off in the first place."

"That's because you never leave me alone!"

"And that's because there's no doubt you'll get yourself hurt again if I did."

"I got to a thousand years without you guarding me didn't I?"

"Yes, but you also died in both of your past lives in ridiculously stupid ways."

"It's not my fault I had a poor immune system and a bad sense of direction!"

"You walked yourself right off a cliff, that's more than just a bad sense of direction."

"Hey it was foggy okay!"

The two stood with only a few inches separating their faces, glaring at one another, one set of eyes rippling pools of water, and the other seemed to reflect fire. One thing was for sure, Hao was not weary of her eyes anymore. Then for some reason he smirked, and before she could even question it in her head, he wound his hands through her hair and closed the distance between their lips. Shock, then desire ran through her, and not a moment later she gave herself up to the kiss, her hands gripping at his poncho as moved her lips with his, and then gave him full access to her mouth. When he finally pulled away her head was spinning and her face a satisfying shade of pink. He smirked at his work, and while she was still in a daze he dragged her back to the house before she could regain her senses.

"That," she said once she had finally taken control of her hazy mind, "Is an unfair way to settle an argument."

He shrugged, and smirked at her from across the table. Her eyes, he noticed, were still the same swirling mass of blue, even though he knew from experience that if they were normal they would be pink right now. Then again if they were normal they wouldn't change at all. He never did find out why they were like that, and now was as good a time to ask as any.

"You still haven't told me about your eyes." He said, not wanting to beat around the bush.

For a brief moment Shinji was confused, but then she remembered the deal they had made.

"And you still haven't told me about your mind reading." She pointed out.

Hao frowned. He forgot about that part.

"Though you know, I actually already know about that." She replied with a small smile.

He almost flinched in shock. Almost. Instead he found himself glaring at her."How?"

Not quite sure why he was glaring at her, but not willing to be intimidated, Shinji glared right back at him. "Matumune told me. I have met him you know. He did help us kill you." She answered sharply, as if stating the most obvious thing in the world.

The irritating thing was that it was obvious. So obvious that Hao felt slightly humiliated he hadn't realized sooner. Of course Matamune would have told her about the mind reading, that way she would have known tricks wouldn't work on him, and with her personality it was obvious that she would have asked how he had gotten it. And Matamune was the one person that could tell her. The only thing that didn't make sense was that if she already knew, why on earth did she want him to tell her?

Shinji could see his anger and confusion all rolled into one, not from his face which had carefully been masked even though he had that thoughtful look in his eyes, but from the way the red fiery aura surrounding him arched and pulsed around him, alternating between fast and slow movements. Her strange eyes softened, and she took his hand from across the table.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted you to tell me yourself. When we made the deal I guess I wanted to know if you trusted me enough to actually tell me your secrets before I could trust you with mine. But I do trust you now, so I didn't see the point in hiding the fact that I already knew from you."

The violent surges of his mana slowed, only gently bubbling slightly on the surface. He understood, it made sense after all, to want reassurance before exposing your life so fully. He felt vaguely annoyed that she had needed that reassurance but then reminded himself that although they were close back then it was only the beginnings of understanding their feelings and they had tried to kill each other several times. Besides, she trusted him now. But then a new question was brought into mind:

"How did you know what I was thinking?" He asked, slightly suspiciously, because no matter how he looked at it, it did seem like she had read his mind when she had answered him.

She frowned, and then leaned forward and poked him in the forehead. "Quit being suspicious of me."

That only made him more suspicious, and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Before you get it into your head, no I am not a mind reader." She replied, pulling away and leaning back into her chair, "But I can see what you're feeling when my eyes are like this."

When his confused look didn't go away she decided to elaborate.

"It's like this. When I'm in this state I can sense everything around me, not as a feeling, but kind of as if I can see life energy in everything that's alive in any direction for about a quarter of a mile. Shaman have an energy that's distinctly different from the rest because It's colouring is more un-natural. For example, yours is a really vivid red, while that tree outside is more of a dim moss green. I think the difference is that I'm sensing the colour of your mana, rather than simply your life force. Because of this I can also sense what people are feeling by the way their mana moves. It's like, when you're in a fight, if you get mad you tend to use up more mana because your control over it is linked in with your emotions. I can't tell with humans though, because they don't have mana. But I can tell if they are a good person or a bad person. The whiter their aura is the better they are as a person, and –"

"All humans are evil." Hao interjected, earning a light smack on the head and a frown from Shinji.

"Don't interrupt!" She scolded, "Now where was I... Oh yeah, and if they're a bad person their aura is black. Most people are in the grey area though. Anyway, because I can see what you feel it's only a short jump for me to guess why you feel that way, which I suppose is why you thought I could read your mind for a moment there."

Hao nodded slowly, absorbing all the information that was being given. It was quite remarkable really, being able to see another person's life force, the life force of everything alive.

"When you're eyes are like this can you still things normally as well?" He found himself asking.

Shinji nodded, "They kind of overlap, but my normal vision won't get any better. Like today- when I was underwater my regular vision was quite dark and blurred since the lake was pretty deep, but at the same time I could see your aura perfectly when you came out of the trees, even though I was facing the other direction. It can be pretty useful in a fight."

"Why don't you use it all the time then? You won't get stabbed so easily." Hao said, a little too bluntly. Shinji saw his mana spike up suddenly at the mention of her being stabbed. Clearly this was still a testy subject.

"Because it can be a little...overwhelming at times, especially if I'm in a crowded place. And If I use it for too long I get a headache." In fact she could feel the beginnings of one just as the words came out of her mouth. She closed her eyes for a moment, and dispelled the mana around her eyes till her vision was back to normal. It was always a lot faster to get rid of than it was to summon. Hao simply stared at her for a moment, noticing that her eyes had turned back to her usual easy blue. He wasn't quite sure why, but he felt his body relax a little at the sight. Perhaps he wasn't quite as comfortable with her strange eyes as he thought, but since they were the last thing he saw before he died it was understandable. It was also a little unnerving to know that she was able to guess his every thought simply by the way his mana looked. Maybe that's what it felt like when people knew he could read their minds. No wonder Shinji always tried to block it. She watched him now, smiling at him lightly. This girl certainly was strange, but not in a bad way. She seemed to know everything about his past, but he hardly knew a thing about her, only the things she told him.

"Hey," She said, playfully poking Hao in the forehead and grinning, " What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I have another question for you." He replied.

"Okay."

"When did your eyes first change colour? Were you born with it?"

Shinji had to pause and think about that one. "I'm not really one hundred percent sure to be honest. My mother told me that I was born blind, and that she took me to my grandmother who was the local healer (and shaman, but my mother didn't understand what a shaman was back then) to see if there was anything that could be done. I don't know how she did it, I was only a baby after all, but my grandmother did something that brought me both my sight and that weird ability with my eyes. That's all I know."

Hao nodded, and the two fell into a small silence. Shinji's eyes had gone a bit grey, and he could tell she was upset even though she had blocked her mind from him again, but he had a pretty good idea what she was thinking anyway. She missed her family, not the one she had now that were apparently trying to kill her, but her real family, the one from her first life. Hao could relate. He decided a distraction was called for, and stood up, catching Shinji's attention.

"Let's go and do something." He said, moving around the table and offering his hand. She took it, and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

"Like what?" she asked, grinning excitedly. It'd been a while since she had done anything aside from train and loiter around the house. Her final match had happened weeks ago, and now she was just waiting for everyone else to catch up before they could all move on to the next round.

"I need to see Yoh, so why don't you come with me?" Hao suggested.

"What for?" Shinji asked, confused and a little suspicious.

"You'll see." He answered mysteriously, a small smirk making its way to his lips.

She frowned at him, "Alright, but just so you know, if your mean to him I'm going to hit you."

He probably should have been a little offended that she automatically presumed his intentions were bad, but the threat was just too funny so instead he laughed and pat her on the head like he would a small child. She glared at him and huffed.

"Yes yes I know." He said, before pulling out a blind fold from his pocket and holding it up to her, "You're going to want this."

"Why?"

He smirked devilishly, "You'll find out."

**Well that's that chapter done =] as I said b4 I'm doing the next one right now but I do have quite a bit of work to do so it may b a while b4 I finish it. Hopefully it won't be too long =] Reviews help me do it faster tho ;) Anywho, please review! **


	31. C31 Hot spring

**Hello again everyone! I return once again, and this time with some AMAZING NEWS! I'm going to college in September to study Illustration! I'm so excited that I just had to share! =D On another fun note, I'm also moving out of my house in August to live away from my family! No more sharing a room for me! Whoopie!**

**Anywayz, back to a more relevant topic, thank you girl fun for being the ONLY person kind enough to review chapter 30! As such, this chapter is dedicated to you! Hope you like it =D**

Chapter 31- Hot spring

"Oi Hao! Don't move so fast, I'm blind you know!" Shinji complained. Why did she agree to be blindfolded? She couldn't see anything, and she didn't know where they were going.

"That's not true, you can see me right?" Hao countered, though he did lessen his pace enough for her to catch up to him.

"I might be able to see you, but that doesn't mean I can see the rocks that keep tripping me up!" she said, grabbing onto his arm. Before they had left Hao had told her to activate her eyes, so although she couldn't see anything behind the blackness of cloth covering them she could at least see the glowing form of his fiery mana, and the energy of the surrounding trees. Trees: them she was able to dodge, but rocks didn't have a life force, so she was constantly stumbling. Hao sighed and slipped an arm around her waist to guide her, but then she jumped back in shock when she felt the brush of skin.

"Hao what the hell! Why are you naked!" she screeched, slightly panicked.

"I'm not, I have a towel."

"A TOWEL!"

Hao sighed again, this woman was going to give him a headache. Why did he love her again?

"Hey stop getting irritated! I should be the irritated one!" she snapped, crossing her arms stubbornly.

Oh yeah, he also forgot she could tell what he was feeling.

"No, you're the irritating one." He snapped back, before grabbing her wrist and teleporting them the rest of the way. Shinji gave a small squeak, and grabbed his arm again. She never was fond of teleporting, especially when she couldn't see. When they stopped she noticed that they were on a rocky, uneven ground, and that there were two sets of mana just a little way below them, and another group all together in what she could only guess was a room or something not too far away. One of the two below them she recognised as Yoh's mana which was a light blue colour, and the other was a golden colour that she guessed might be Rens. They were both fairly bright, but nothing in comparison to the vivid burning mana beside her. Hao leaned over to her then and muttered: "Behave."

That pissed her off, but before she could respond Hao spoke to the two below.

"If you want I can give you the answer you are looking for."

Shinji noticed the spiking of the gold mana after he spoke, Ren was clearly annoyed at their sudden arrival, but Yoh's remained as calm and steady as ever.

"As I told you before, 'next time we'll take a bath.'" Hao said, even though no one had spoken. Shinji guessed that Yoh must have asked a question in his head.

'_Wait a second' _She thought, _'bath? Am I...Oh no, he did NOT bring me to a hot spring full of guys! I am so going to kick his ass for this!' _

But apparently, someone else had a similar thought in mind. Shinji saw the sharp violent movement of his pale green mana before she heard him.

"HAO!" Lyserg screamed as he smashed through the house and charged towards them, his oversoul already active. Shinji took a brief moment to marvel at the strange shape of the boy's oversoul before Hao's own made her jump, reaching around them both in a flash and blocking the boy's oncoming attack, suspending him in mid air. The rest of the group came out now, and Shinji found herself momentarily dazzled by the arrangement of colour, each humming with tension.

"This is my armour oversoul, Kuro-bina. It's able to gaurd the user, and be able to attack. The oversoul is very easy to summon. It's very dense, but dosent use a lot of mana. It's not really hard to make an armour oversoul, as you all seem to have been able to do it-"

Shinji tuned out Hao little speech then, already getting bored. Instead she focused on the oversoul itself. It really was quite ingenious, and she found herself a little irritated she hadn't thought of it herself. Maybe she should have bothered going to see other people's matches; she might have picked up a trick or two. Even Yoh and his friends seemed to be one step ahead of her this time. Well that was that, the next time she had the chance she was going to make one for herself. Hao would probably help her if she asked...maybe.

Lyserg started shouting something then, and Shinji brought her attention back to the scene at hand.

"So, if your final wish is to take a bath, then so be it!" He cried. And then the next moment all of the boys sat themselves down in the hot spring, Hao between Yoh and Lyserg, while Shinji awkwardly sat on the rocks overlooking them all. It was only then that the boys even seemed to notice she was there at all, and all of their mana shook in a way that told her they were uncomfortable.

The one with the icy blue mana was the first to speak up, launching to his feet and pointing at her.

"Why is there a girl here!" he cried, his voice seeming to go a higher pitch with embarrassment.

Shinji rolled her eyes under the blind fold and pointed to Hao. "He brought me. What he failed to tell me was where he would be taking me."

He turned to Hao then, "What did you bring a girl for? Is she your girlfriend or something?"

Shinji didn't need to see to know that Hao smirked as he answered, "Or something."

Yoh decided to jump in then, "Come on Horohoro, don't you remember Shinji?"

"No, why would I?"

Manta, who Shinji remembered as the very short human of the group and whose life force was a very light grey, face palmed. Apparently Ren felt like doing the same, because his mana spiked up once in irritation.

"You idiot." He snapped, causing Horohoro to turn on him.

"Well how am I supposed to remember every shaman we come across!"

"Guys its fine, I really don't care if he remembers me, I sure as hell didn't remember him." Shinji said finally.

"I'm afraid I don't remember you, but we mustn't have ever met for I surely would have forgotten such a beauty." The tall guy with the purple mana said.

"Don't even think about it." Hao growled, his calm mana jumping violently for a moment. The purple-mana-guy shrunk back away from him fearfully. Shinji laughed lightly.

"Hao quit picking on him. And by the way Horohoro if I wasn't blindfolded right now I would be able to see everything with you stood like that." She pointed out. It had the desired effect, and he quickly sat back down with a splash.

"What are you guys doing here anyway! You're the enemy! You need to explain your real reason for being here!" he cried.

"I'm not the enemy." Shinji said with a frown.

"But your one of Hao's followers!"

"Like hell am I, you moron! I'm on your side!"

"Then what the hell are you doing following him around?"

"I do not 'following him around', he follows _me_ around!"

"Yeah right."

"It's true! Hao tell him!"

Hao shrugged, "What can I say, the girls obsessed with me."

"You LIAR!" Shinji yelled, tearing off her blindfold to glare daggers at him. It was only then that she remembered exactly why she had the blindfold in the first place. Her face instantly turned bright red, mirroring the look of horror on all of their faces apart from Hao's, and then she hastily slapping her hands over her eyes. "AHHH my eyes! My innocent eyes!"

Hao smirked, chuckling slightly under his breath before getting up and moving towards her. Her eyes were still covered with her hands but she could see his mana moving towards her and she scrambled further back.

"You pervert! Keep away!"

"Calm down you idiot, I'm just going put the blind fold back on." He said.

"...Fine, but any funny business and I swear I will kick your ass so hard your grandchildren will feel it!" she threatened, making him laugh again.

As he reached around to cover her eyes with the cloth, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "You know technically my grandchildren will be your grandchildren."

If possible her face went even redder, but before she could scream at him again Horohoro interrupted with a start.

"I remember you now! You're the girl that yelled at Hao in the arena!" He cried.

Shinji went to turn to him and frown, but Hao quickly grabbed her head to stop her, and finished tying the blindfold.

Ren took the opportunity to hit Horohoro over the head. "Idiot." And after a moment of arguing everyone settle back into their original positions.

Shinji couldn't help but feel even more awkward than before, and she knew that everyone but Hao felt a little uncomfortable with a girl in front of them. It was an easy decision to go inside and make this whole situation more comfortable for everyone.

"You might want to stay Shinji, you'll want to hear this." Hao said, knowing that she was planning to leave before she had even moved from the rock. She had left her mind unguarded out of fairness to him, if she could tell what he felt then it was only fair that he could know what she was thinking.

"Nah its cool, you can fill me in later anyway." She replied, waving him off as she stood up carefully, "Yoh, your fiancée is upstairs right?"

"Ah, yeah I think so." Replied Yoh, a little confused.

Shinji smiled, she had thought so, she could see the rather large mass of glowing mana above them to her right beside a much smaller one. It should have amazed her how much larger it was than most peoples, but then in comparison to Hao's it didn't really seem all that impressive. At times like that she wished she could clearly see her own mana in order to compare it. Still, it was clear that the Asakura's picked a pretty strong Ikato to marry into the family.

"Cool, I'm gunna go up and say hi, leave you boys to it." She told them.

They watched in mild amusement as she slowly tried to blindly stumble her way off of the rock with little success.

"Do you want help?" Hao asked, unable to hide the smirk on his face.

"NO, no no no no no, you just stay right there, I can get down by myself." She said, right before tripping and landing face first on the ground. "...Ow."

Horohoro and Chocolove burst into laughter, and then almost drowned on the water that came shooting up into their faces, and then again from the blow that came to both of their heads from Ren. Lyserg glanced over at Hao, who was chuckling quietly to himself. The green haired boy frowned, and then looked back over at Shinji who was picking herself up off of the floor.

"Are you alright Shinji?"He asked, genuinely concerned for the clumsy girl.

"I'm fine," she replied hesitantly moving with her arms outstretched till her hands hit the wall, "Now which way is it to the door?"

"To your left and around the corner." Pointed out Manta helpfully.

"Thanks." She replied, following his direction and sighing with mild relief as she found the door and slipped inside. It took her a moment to tug off the blindfold (Hao had defiantly made it a lot tighter this time) and then her eyes were greeted to the sight of an empty changing room. Looking around briefly she spotted another door and went towards it.

After five minutes of searching through the surprisingly large building she found the stairs and made her assent. Before she went into the room containing Anna she drew the mana away from her eyes until they returned to their usual dusty blue and her vision returned to normal. She had a feeling Anna wouldn't be particularly bothered by them, after all the ikato sure didn't scare easy, but she wasn't sure about the other person in the room. All in all it was better to appear normal , and with that thought in mind she knocked on the door.

To her surprise, an unknown pink haired girl nervously cracked the door open and peaked out at her, "Y-yes?" she stuttered.

"Who is it Tamao?" Anna called from inside the room, where Shinji couldn't see her.

"Um I don't..." The pink haired girl, Tamao began awkwardly, not quite sure what to tell impatient blonde.

With both the thought of helping the nervous girl out, and her own impatience, Shinji gently nudged Tamao out of the way and poked her head around the door.

"It's me," she called, and then after realizing that Anna wasn't even looking in their direction, and that she may not know who 'me' was, she added, "Shinji."

"Oh you, what are you doing here?" Anna replied, her eyes still glued to the TV in front of her.

"Nice to see you too," Shinji replied dryly as she was let fully into the room by Tamao, "I came with Hao, he's down stairs talking to the guys. Don't worry, he's not going to do anything." She winced slightly as the words came out of her mouth, annoyed that she had actually felt the need to reassure people that her not-quite-a-boyfriend-boyfriend wasn't going to start killing anyone.

"Like he'd have the balls to do anything." Anna scoffed.

Shinji laughed aloud and grinned. She knew there was a reason she didn't hate Anna, even if the blonde was a little too standoffish most of the time. With that thought in mind she plopped herself down next to Anna and started watching the TV alongside her.

"Oooh Lost Days! I haven't seen this since the tournament started! What's happened so far?" Shinji asked excitedly.

"Hikaru got hit by a bus, he's dead. His twin brother Yuki is pretending to be him so that he can get his money and his girlfriend." Anna informed her.

"No not Hikaru! He was my favourite! I didn't know he had a twin."

"No one did until he turned up."

'_Well that sounds eerily familiar.' _Shinji thought absently, but instead replied "weird."

Anna simply nodded in response and took a cookie on the plate in front of her.

"You made cookies?" Shinji asked, though finding it seriously unlikely that Anna would make anything for herself.

"Ryu made them." The blonde answered, taking a bite of the cookie in her hand.

'_Ah that makes more sense... now who's Ryu again?' _Shinji though, but didn't bother voicing her question out loud and instead pinched one of the cookies. If Anna was bothered she didn't say anything, so Shinji figured it was okay and took a bite herself.

"Hey this is nice! Not as good as Maryland cookies, but still pretty good." _'Maybe I should ditch Hao and go for the cookie guy. Hehe.' _Just as the thought flew out of her head a small shudder went down her back, and she remembered that she still hadn't blocked her mind from Hao's since leaving the hot spring. _'...Oops. Hao I was kidding, I reaaaally didn't mean that.' _She wasn't expecting a response, but hopefully it was enough to keep him from being too pissed off.

Apparently not, because only five minutes later Hao appeared in the doorway, wearing a tracksuit of all things, with his arms folded across his chest. As usual, Shinji didn't notice he was there , but apparently Anna did.

"Hao." She acknowledged with a frown, still not taking her eyes off the TV.

"Hao what?" Shinji mumbled through a mouthful of cookie, thinking Anna had said his name in order to start up a conversation.

"He's behind you."

"He's what?" She cried, whirling round and coming face to face with the fire shaman who had walked up behind while she was watching the TV. He was smirking at her, but the slight evil glint in his eye told her she was in trouble, and as she jumped in shock she choked on her cookie. Tamao ran over to pat her on the back while Hao silently laughed to himself.

"We're leaving." He said when she finally ceased her spluttering.

"Eh, already? B-but the TV." She replied weakly.

"We'll be back later."

"We will? Then why are we leaving?"

"Because we still need to talk."

"We do? What about?"

Hao held back an irritated sigh, and instead of bothering to answer any more questions he simply grabbed her wrist and hauled her to her feet. Without another word to anyone, the two disappeared in the usual envelopment of flames.

Anna silently munched on her cookies with her eyes still glued to the TV as if nothing had happened, while Tamao stared wide eyed at the spot where the dreaded fire shaman had spirited away the strange white haired girl.

"Um... Anna-San, should we maybe... do something?" The pink haired girl asked uncomfortably.

"No." Anna replied simply, much to the other girls surprise.

"B-but Hao took that girl away..."

"She can handle him."

"She- she can?" Tamao asked, somewhat baffled by her friends indifference to what appeared to her as a kidnapping.

"She's stronger than she looks." Anna explained briefly, and then ignored all other protest from the pink haired girl and continued watching her soap. After all, it was clear to her that Shinji was safer from Hao than anyone, and perhaps she could use that to her advantage.

**Wooooow that took me soooo much longer than I expected to write! I mean, normally It takes me a while because I'm a bit lazy, but this chapter was actually pretty hard for me, mostly because this is pretty much the beginning of the end of the whole story, and originally I had something else planned. No turning back now though, and I'm actually pretty glad I'm going to go with this ending because I think it will tie in with the manga quite nicely =]**

**Just in case anyone misinterpreted that little speech this is NOT the final chapter, because if it was then it would suck XP There are still about 5 chapters left to go, which only makes it harder for me to write because I don't want it to end lol.**

**Your support means everything to me, so if you have the time please review! Might make me want to write faster ;D lol.**

**(Little cheeky arrow =D)**

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	32. C32 plans

**Ah thank goodness! Everyone, I've got my laptop back and it works again! I was seriously worried for a while that I was going to lose this chapter, because I really wasn't sure if my work would be recovered and it would have driven me nuts to have to write it again. It's funny though, out of everything that is stored on my laptop the only thing I really cared about surviving was this story, and that includes out off all of my artwork and coursework lol. I remember thinking 'Pleeeeeeease let the story be safe, at least chapter 32! Take my coursework, I don't care, just save that chapter!' In hindsight I probably should have been more worried about my coursework since I still had the draft of this chappy in my note book, but ah well lol.**

**Anywayz, thank you everyone who reviewed chapter 31!**

**Monochrome666 ****You love it! Yay, thanks! =D I think Shinji is defiantly the favourite out of all my OC's to me, so it's great to hear that other people like her too =D**

**girlfun****, well here it is! Lol =] and what does (L) stand for? Or is that a stupid question? Lol**

** .lover ****haha thanks =D****I couldn't resist putting that in, though I think Shinji may have thought twice about that comment if she was sure on exactly who the 'cookie man' was XP poor Ryu, lol.**

**Lost-in-all-Illusions ****I'm so glad you like it! I really hope I don't disappoint you in the future =]**

**Miss-Shadow ****Thank you very much! As you can see I have updated, lol.**

**Shanda 14x **** I know exactly how you feel because that's just what I feel about this story. I've already got a few Shinji inspired side stories I'm working on to put out when the main story's finished, but it still sucks you know? I've been writing about Shinji for so long that she and the whole shaman king gang have become such a big part of my life! So when it's all over it's going to feel horrible. Satisfying, but horrible =[ Thank goodness for the side stories! I'm also starting to work my way through and re-write some of the earlier chapters (I started writing this at 14 and now I'm 19, so yeah, it need a touch up lol) because I don't think I'll be completely content until this story is as perfect as I can make it. And don't worry about being pushy, pushy is good! It makes me work lol. Thank you for such a wonderful review! =D**

**Good Omens ****Haha thank you! I'm glad I've been able to convert you to the dark side ;D I know quite a lot of people really don't like OC's so it's great to know I've made even the smallest change in opinion =D (And that my sense of humour isn't t totally rubbish lol)**

**Thanks to everyone for reading this far! And now I'll stop talking and get on with the story =D**

Chapter 32- Plans

As the fire died down around them, Shinji stumbled out of the flames and away from Hao to rest her hand on the bark of a nearby tree.

"I really wish you would stop doing that." She said, feeling a little lightheaded from the trip. Being teleported by surprise was not on her top ten list of ways to travel.

"And I really wish you would come with me without complaint." Hao countered, moving forwards and placing a hand on her forehead to sweep away the dizziness.

"Well I guess we're both going to be disappointed then, because I love complaining-"

"And I enjoy teleporting." He finished for her with a smirk, before pulling his hand away. "Better?"

She nodded. "Much. You know I really have to remember that I can do that too."

"That would be a good idea."

She laughed for a moment, and decided to finally pay attention to her surroundings. It wasn't surprising to find herself in the middle of the forest again, especially considering that she was leaning against one of its trees, but she hadn't expected to recognise it as the path they had taken on the way to Yoh's place. Apparently, even when blindfolded and only able to see the shapes of the trees she had begun to unconsciously learn enough about her surroundings to remember them. Her senses were growing, even if only a little. It also meant that they must only be within walking distance back to where Yoh and his friends were.

"I did say we would be going back after we talked. There didn't seem much sense in going too far." Hao explained, and Shinji realized that her mind was still opened for him.

"Oh right yeah, and uh, what do we need to talk about exactly? Because if this is about the cookie guy thing then you must know I was only kidding, well half kidding, but it defiantly wasn't a serious thought. It's just that it was such a good cookie and I just-"

"This isn't about the…cookie guy, though I am starting to think that I should burn him so that your stomach doesn't get the better of you." He interrupted with a devious smirk.

"Hao." Shinji warned with a frown, making him laugh.

"Relax, just like you I was only…half kidding." He said, somewhat reassuringly.

"Somehow I get the feeling that my half kidding and your half kidding are two very different things" She replied as she perched herself on a nearby rock.

He followed her movement and leaned over her, his hands placed on the rock either side of her shoulders.

"Well then, maybe you shouldn't give me a reason to half joke in the first place."

"Learn how to make some super delicious cookies and then maybe I won't." She countered with a laugh, before playfully kissing him on the nose.

Hao smiled slightly, and then moved away in favour of leaning beside her and taking on a more serious air. As much as he liked this new sense of witty banter, they had more important matters to discuss. Shinji noticed the sudden shift in mood, and flashed him a questioning look.

"You know the small human boy my brother seems to call his friend?" Hao began, shifting into a more comfortable position on the rock where some of the sharper points weren't digging into his back.

"What Manta? What about him?" Shinji asked, confused about why Hao had even brought him up when most of the time he seemed to prefer ignoring the existence all together.

Hao paused for a moment, wondering how he was best going to word what he was about to say. No matter how he told her he knew she would be angry at him, so it was better to just get it over and done with. "His foolish father plans to start a war against shaman. He believes that we should not have the right to decide the fate of the world through the shaman king. The human military has also been involved, and they will be here tomorrow."

An array of emotions played across her face, and her eyes flickered between colours before settling into an odd mixture of purple and red.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" She yelled, "What the hell are we going to do? Have the Patch done anything about it? Do they even know yet?"

"The Patch know, but they can't do anything. Their customs-"

"Yeah yeah I know, can't interfere with humans, blah blah blah. But surely they won't just sit back and let us get attacked! This has got to be an exception or something right?"

"As far as the Patch are concerned if we can't fight of a few measly humans and their guns, none of us would be worthy of becoming the Shaman King anyway. And personally I agree with them."

"You said the military Hao, that's a hell of a lot more than a few, and they have a lot more than just guns, which by the way, should not be underestimated." She replied with a frown.

Hao laughed, "They tried to kill me with the best satellite technology their tiny human minds could come up with, with the Xlaws help of course, and yet, I'm still standing. Do you really thing I fear their weapons? You know I would be able to defeat them easily by myself, and between the two of us we could do it twice as fast." He didn't say it in arrogance; it was simply a statement, an acknowledgement of their strengths. A reminder. Shinji knew all o f this, but it still made her mad.

"I'm not going to kill people Hao. You may hate humans but I don't." She replied sharply, her eyes already beginning to turn red.

"They wouldn't hesitate to kill you. That's why they're coming in the first place, to kill shaman like us."

"I am NOT going to kill people." She insisted with a glare.

Hao laughed a little, bitterly, but he wasn't surprised. He knew that she didn't agree with his vision, it just wasn't until now that they had an immediate reason to argue about it. This wasn't something to be decided on in the future by whoever won the shaman fight, this was happening now. And he wanted her help.

"Yoh said the same thing, more or less. We came to an agreement."

Shinji looked surprised, "Yoh? Yoh agreed to help?"

"My brother can see sense when it's needed. Even the iron maiden has decided to assist."

"Jeanne! Did you drug her or something? How on earth did you convince Jeanne?"

"The patch will be taking us to the next destination of the tournament tomorrow afternoon, which would be difficult to do when the island is surrounded by ships. At the very least we need to make sure we have a way off the island and to keep them from following us. Are you going to help or not?"

She hesitated, "Isn't there another way? Without fighting them."

"You've been fighting shaman because you want to be queen, and you killed me five hundred years ago for the same reason. Is it really that different?"

"I haven't killed anyone in the arena, and you didn't exactly stay dead."

"They won't stay dead either, as regrettable as that is. I told Yoh that any human Jeanne or his necromancer companion cannot revive, I will revive myself."

"... We can do that?"

Hao felt like face palming, though his dignity wouldn't allow it. After everything they had ever been through how could she still be so incredibly dumb. The only explanation seemed to be that her old age had made her forgetful. Either that or she was too lazy to learn everything there is to know about being a shaman when she had learned the points of the unity star. He was going to go with the latter.

"Yes, we can do that." He replied with a small smile.

Her glare died quickly, only to be replaced by a half-hearted frown.

"Well why didn't you say that first you idiot?" she said, thumping none too gently in the chest.

"I honestly didn't think I needed to. Now I'm beginning to think that it was a stupid presumption."

"And I'm not sure if I should be insulted by that or not." She replied, "So wait, can everyone do that?"

"Of course not, only the particularly strong or smart. On second thoughts maybe you can't." He smirked.

"Oh ha-ha very funny, quit making jokes at my expense. Now how do you do it exactly? Is it like healing?"

"It's similar, but you know you probably won't even need to do anything. There are enough people for the job." He explained.

"Maybe so, but the fewer humans you have to deal with the better. I don't mind helping bringing them back to life, in fact, I'd be a lot happier doing that than killing them in the first place."

"Alright fine, I suppose it is better for you to learn anyway. I'll help you tomorrow."

"Why not now?" She questioned.

"Because someone is on their way here to speak to you." He said, pushing away from the rock and stepping a few feet away. "I'm going back to Yoh's; I trust you can make your way back without me?"

"I'm not a complete idiot, Hao, I know where Yoh's place is."

"Which direction is it in?" Hao asked, folding his arms across his chest and shooting her a smug look.

Shinji opened her mouth to answer, and then suddenly realized that she wasn't actually sure. There were only two ways that she could choose, the way to, and the way from Yoh. The problem was she wasn't sure which was which.

"It's that way of course." She replied, pointing down one end of the path and praying that she was right.

Hao laughed lightly and shook his head, "Well at least the Diethel boy will have some use, he can keep you from getting lost."

"Lyserg? He's the one who wants to speak to me?" Shinji asked in confusion.

Hao nodded, "And now I'm going to go, try not to be too long."

Shinji pushed aside her annoyance at being told what to do when she realized that he was about to teleport away.

"Ah wait, Hao!" She called, moving forward and grabbing his sleeve, "Um, you know that thing you did earlier, to stop Lyserg from attacking you?"

"You mean the armour oversoul?"

"Yeah, will you show me how to make one?"

Hao thought for a moment. Teaching her how to bring people back to life seemed harmless enough, she would never be able use it against him, but an armour oversoul she could. It didn't make sense to teach her something that would make her harder to beat in the future. On the other hand, if she did learn it then things would go a lot faster when they fought the humans, and he wouldn't have to worry about her getting shot. No doubt if he refused she would just get Yoh or Lyserg to show her anyway.

"Alright, tomorrow then." He answered finally.

She smiled gratefully, "Thanks."

"Shinji?" A voice called, and she turned around to see Lyserg walking towards them, his pendulum floating out in front him and glowing brightly in the dim evening light.

"Well I guess that's my cue to leave." Said Hao, gently tugging Shinji's hand away from his sleeve and leaning down to place a quick peck on her lips. "I'll see you when you get back, and don't get lost.

"Yeah yeah, I won't." She replied, waving him off with a small smile. He stepped back away from her, and then disappeared in his usual fiery fashion.

She stared at the spot where Hao once stood for a moment, and then turned her attention to the green haired boy who was staring as her as if she had grown a third head.

"Uh... so what's up?" she asked, feeling a little embarrassed.

"You know I didn't quite believe it, even after what Yoh and Ren told me." Lyserg said, still not putting away the pendulum that was still suspended in mid air and pointed right at her.

Shinji blinked in confusion, "Huh?"

"You and him are together aren't you?" It was more a statement than a question, and the words were spat out like acid.

"Oh right, Uh... well yeah, sort of. I mean we agreed not to till the tournament was over, but I guess that didn't quite work out as I expected." She explained, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"I don't understand how you can have any feelings for him, he's a murderer!"He cried in outrage.

"Well technically speaking Lyserg, I'm a murder for killing him once before. And you've attempted murder several times by trying to kill him yourself." She pointed out.

"That's different and you know it! We're trying to stop him destroying humanity!"

"No, you want to kill him for revenge, and I did it to be queen."

"So what, you're on his side now?" He snapped.

Shinji gawped at him, "Are you insane! Do you honestly think I would be so shallow to change my whole belief system for_ a guy?_ So what if I love him or whatever? I'm not a total moron Lyserg, I have a mind of my own and I am certainly NOT going to let him get away with trying to kill the humans. I cannot believe you can even _think_ that I would take his side on that!"

"Are you going to kill him then? Because that's what it's going to take to stop him."

"Don't be stupid."

"It's true! The only way you can beat him is by aiming to kill him. Your mana level just isn't as high as his."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "What are you talking about?"

"Do you know how much mana you have?"

"Well of course I do, its 999,999." That last number to one million irritated her to no end. "It tells you on the oracle bell, why?"

"Did you know that you can check other peoples?"

"...You can what?" She asked, once again confused. Technology wasn't particularly her weak point, but the oracle bells we're just ridiculous to work out. It was a feat in itself that she had managed to work out how to find out her own mana.

"Here." Lyserg offered, stepping forward with his hand out stretched. He realized then that his pendulum was still out and pointed at her, and with a brief moment of hesitation he zipped it back into its holster. Shinji allowed him to take her arm, and watched curiously as he quickly tapped the buttons on her oracle bell until the screen flashed Hao's name.

"Weird, how long have you known about-" Her words cut off when she caught sight of the seven digit number that lit up her oracle bell. "Holy shit..."

"Do you see now? Even as strong as you are you're still at a huge disadvantage. If you want to win you have to-"

"I can't believe he got to a million before me!" Shinji cried in outrage, unaware that Lyserg had even spoken at all.

Lyserg was taken aback by her outburst, not sure if he had understood her right, "What?"

"Not only that but he has 1,250,000! That's a whole 250,001 more than me!" She continued ranting, "Do you have any idea how hard I've tried to get that last measly little point to a million? I am so going to kick his ass for this!"

Lyserg was stunned into silence. Was he hearing this right? Was she actually angry, not because Hao was stronger, but because he had gotten to a million before she had? This was not the reaction he was expecting. He thought they were going to have a more sombre conversation where she would realize that a half-hearted fight wouldn't be enough to beat Hao. He had hoped that it would be enough to take things a little more seriously. Apparently he was wrong.

"As if it wasn't bad enough that he's smarter than I am!" She turned towards Lyserg then, eyes blazing red, "And if you tell him I said that I will kill you."

"As if I would speak to him." Lyserg scoffed.

Shinji would have pointed out that every time he threatens Hao he's speaking to him, but decided against it.

"Right right," She replied instead, waving him off, "Still, I'm going to have to train my ass off. I will not let him be the only person to reach a million!"

"Is that all you care about? Reaching a million? Is this just a big game to you? What about the fact that Hao is so much stronger than you are? Don't you see that the only way you can hope to beat him is now is not to hold back. You have no choice but to aim to kill him!"

"First off," Shinji began with a frown, "a weaker shaman has ever chance of beating a stronger one with a good enough strategy. It doesn't matter how much mana you have if you use it up too quickly. And I'm hardly at as much of a disadvantage as you are. No offence. Secondly I have no intention of going easy on him, and he already knows that. We agreed that when the time came we wouldn't hold back just because of any feelings we may have. I'm not stupid Lyserg, I know this is too important to risk on something like that. Besides, if one of us did happen to die it's not like we can't come back. But there is no way I'm going into the fight determined to kill him before we even start. I'm not your personal vigilante Lyserg, so don't treat me like one!" As her speech had progressed her eyes had slowly bled into red the more fired up she got, and Lyserg watched the transformation with wide, startled eyes.

A small silence followed. Shinji had expected another argument to follow, but apparently Lyserg's shock had knocked it out of him, and suddenly she felt ashamed for her rapid flair of anger.

"I'm sorry," She mumbled, "I shouldn't be taking this all out on you. I know you're in pain Lyserg, but I'm not willing to settle things just by killing him, even if I'm able to. If there was another way to do this I would jump at it. Hao has his faults, several of them in fact, but killing him in cold blood didn't stop him from trying the last two times, in fact it just made him more determined. I'm not going to be the one to make it three. Besides, Hao's had a thousand years of suffering, I'm not going to be the one to make it worse."

Lyserg looked as if he was about to say something, but stopped himself. He thought for a moment, and then turned back to her with a serious look. "You're really not going to change your mind on this?" Shinji shook her head and he frowned, "He's probably going to try and kill you you know."

Shinji shrugged, "He'll only try if he gets desperate, and if he does then at least we'll finally be even and I won't have to feel guilty anymore. Besides, it's not like I haven't died before."She said with a small laugh, "and no doubt he'll bring me back anyway. Or maybe Jeanne will. Whatever the case I doubt I'll stay dead."

"Would you bring Hao back if he died?" Lyserg asked.

"Well of course I would, or at least I would try. I mean, for all I know by the end of the fight I'll have no power left at all."

"So if anyone else killed him you would bring him back too?"

"Yeah. What are you getting at Lyserg?" Shinji asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously when she noticed the troubled look on his face.

"Shinji... Yoh came up with a plan, in case you aren't able to beat Hao. He didn't want to tell you because he didn't want to pressure you, or put you off in any way, but..."

"Go on Lyserg." She urged.

"When we get to continent of Mu we're going to forfeit the tournament, all of us, and if you don't win we're going to go after Hao while he's being made the shaman king."

Shinji was silent, taking in the new information with several thoughts and feelings running through her head. It was annoying that Yoh hadn't told her this himself. And to think that everyone was in on it! Begrudgingly she could see the sense in why he hadn't said anything, but it still irritated her. She was worried too. The Patch certainly weren't pushovers, and if Hao was made king they would guard him fiercely with their lives, because that was how the patch worked. As strong as Yoh and his friends were compared to the average shaman, Shinji wasn't sure that they were strong enough to take down all ten patch officials and the fight Hao at the end.

"You realize that this is practically suicidal." She said finally. It wasn't meant to sound harsh, simply realistic.

Lyserg nodded, "We know the risk, but we'll do whatever it takes to stop Hao."

"Which translates to killing him right? That's why you're worried about me saying that I would bring him back, because if you did manage to kill him I would bring him back and your efforts would be wasted."

He frowned, "can't you see how important this is Shinji? If we fail Hao will destroy the humans. We can't let that happen, you know we can't."

Shinji bit her lip, torn between her morals that now seemed to contradict themselves. She had decided after Hao that she would never kill anyone again, but if she didn't stop him again, or at least let Yoh and his friends try, then millions of people would die. She hated the choice she was going to have to make, and she hated Lyserg for bringing these choices to her. Why did he have to appeal to her humanity like that? It was irritating, and she decided to change the subject a little.

"This doesn't sound like Yoh, I may not have known him for very long, but I know enough to realize that he wouldn't want to kill his own brother."

Apparently, what Shinji had said hit home, because Lyserg paused before replying, "Yoh let Luchist know what we were planning. Hao isn't unaware of what we are going to do. But Yoh knows how important this is." He explained, though his face revealed that he was unsure of his words, and he gained a thoughtful look.

Shinji frowned. Even Hao himself knew about all of this before she did. Still, at least that sounded a little more like something Yoh would do.

"Look," Shinji said, catching the green haired boy's attention, "I trust Yoh's judgement, so I'll go along with whatever he has planned, or at least I won't interfere."

He beamed at her like a child at Christmas, and as much as she trusted Yoh, the look on Lyserg's face made her sick to her stomach with guilt.

'_Yoh,'_ Shinji thought, _'I really hope you know what you're doing.'_

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**Yay another chapter done! Thanks for reading guys! For the record I should probably let you all know that I am going to be rewriting, editing, and polishing this story where needed (particularly the start because let's face it, I was a crap writer when I started this) because I've realized there are a few mistakes and a couple holes in the plot that need fixing. Which considering how long it's taken for me to write this, is not surprising. So yeah, if anyone goes back to read it again one day and finds bits a little different to what you remember, that'll be why. I'll be uploading the first three chapters again tomorrow =D**

**Anywayz, as always reviews are very welcome! I can't wait to hear from you! So please review!**

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	33. C33 Sinking Ships

**Omg you guys have nooo idea how frustrating this chapter was to write! Just as I had finished typing it all up, I closed the document down by mistake and had to write another 2000 words all over again! So annoying . Still, I was stubborn and decided not to give up there and then, and have managed to get this chapter up for you all today =] as I may have mentioned before, I have just moved out of my house, so as a result I have had no internet for the last 3 weeks, which is why it's taken me so long to update this chapter. Sorry about that! The good news is however, that my dad still has internet, and I will be visiting him again next Tuesday so I can post the new chapter then =]**

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**girlfun: Haha thats Okay, I do that all the time =D don't worry, Nindie makes an appearance in this chapter, and in the ones that follow. I haven't forgotten about her. Shinji can't really fight without her, and it clearly it doesn't work well when she tries lol XP Thanks for the reviews, both of them! lol =D**

**Good omens: Lol sorry . I have been writing the new chapters as well though, so don't worry, I haven't given up on the new chapters till the edits are complete or anything like that =] I'm glad you like my story enough not to care about how crap it was before lol, so thanks for the enthusiasm!**

**Bre: Yay, thank you =D I'm glad you find her interesting =] I don't think I would have been able to right so much of this story if I didn't make her a little bit funny, I would have gotten bored very quickly otherwise lol XP Thanks for the support! And here's the new chapter =]**

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Chapter 33 – Sinking Ships

Shinji found herself completely weirded out by the situation she was in. If someone had told her a year ago that she would be almost dating Hao Asakura she probably would have thought they were mentally ill, but this was even more unbelievable, though considering everything that had happened so far she really shouldn't be so surprised.

They stood in a line across the bay, her, Hao, Opacho and Luchist, Yoh and his friends, Jeanne, Lyserg, and the rest of the X laws, and not a single argument or fight had started up between them. Everyone was too busy looking out to sea, watching the fleet of naval ships slowly advance towards them, and the helicopters flying overhead. No doubt the humans inside their floating metal contraptions felt confident and secure in the belief that they couldn't lose against the group of rag tag individuals lined up on the shore, but Shinji had no doubt in her mind that even if Hao had stood there alone the exact same thought would be going through his head.

A sudden sound came from one of the ships over a loud speaker, but to Shinji it only sounded like a loud murmur of noise. Apparently Hao had heard it, because an eerie smile spread across his lips.

"Terrorists, an adjective almost too fitting." He said, and Shinji shot him a horrified look.

"Terrorist? I'm not a bloody terrorist! They're the ones coming to attack us!" She cried in outrage. Hao glanced her way, but said nothing to contradict her. Since she was there against all of her beliefs of not killing people it was best not to push her by telling her that she was wrong, because technically when he was king he would be killing all of the humans. Then again, she would probably just say that it wouldn't happen because she would be king and not him. Still, best to save himself from the argument when his brother was only a few feet away.

"Lotsa boaties Hao-sama!" Opacho cried eagerly, pointing out to sea with a large smile on her face.

"Yes Opacho, and we're going to sink them." Hao replied, and Shinji elbowed him in the side with a frown. Apparently avoiding an argument really wasn't going to happen after all.

"Stop teaching her weird things. Why did you bring a child to this anyway? What if she gets hurt?"

"Opacho can take care of herself!"The child cried with a small adorable frown.

Unsure of what to say, Shinji simply turned her glare on Hao and said nothing.

He laughed slightly, "If I had known all it would take to keep you quite was Opacho I would have brought her around you more often."

"Shut up." Shinji murmured in embarrassment, elbowing him in the ribs again.

"Besides," Hao continued, ignoring the slight ache in his ribs thanks to her bony elbow, "You brought Rosie along."

"Yeah but- but its Rosie, she's like four years older than Opacho. And besides, she's on my team."

"Opacho is on my team." Hao replied with a smug smirk.

Shinji rolled her eyes, but decided to drop the argument. What Hao did and did not let his followers do was none of her business, and if he seemed to think that having a six year old girl running around on a battle field was fine then she would have to live with it. Though in a sense, at least if she did get into trouble there we're plenty of strong shaman at hand to help her out. She doubted even the X laws would let a child die when they had the ability to help, even if she had been raised by Hao. Then again, from the look Marco kept flashing them maybe not. The reminder of the Xlaws presence (or what was left of them anyway) made Shinji wonder where the rest of Hao's followers were. They may not have made it into the final round but she would have thought Hao would have brought them into this fight, even if only to show off how many people still supported him. The only two followers he brought with him were Opacho and the priestly looking guy with the funny hat. She was going to have to ask Hao about that after this was all over. In fact, she was going to have to ask Hao a lot of things. Like why was Opacho his follower? Why did he kill Lysergs parents? And why did he want everyone at the bay to fight even if he had said before that he could take the fleet on easily by himself?

After her talk with Lyserg the night before a lot of these questions sprung to mind. She knew the reason for it. Think of a lot of things to keep your mind busy and you might forget about your guilt, but it never really went away. When they had made it back to the inn Shinji avoided Hao like the plague, hiding away in the room she would later be sharing with Anna and Tamao rather than going to find him like she normally would have done. She knew that she was going to have to see him in the morning so that he could help her with the revival technique and the armour oversoul, but at that moment she felt like she needed some time to get her emotions in check. Hao didn't come to see her that evening, which was both a surprise and a relief, but in the early hours of the morning when everyone was asleep he silently came to find her.

Shinji knew the moment he walked into the room that it was him. Her night had been a fairly sleepless one, and when she heard the door slide open she instantly shut her eyes and tried to mimic sleep. Hao crouched down beside her, and with an almost surprising gentleness he brushed the loose strands of hair out of her face. She felt her body relax at the gesture, unaware that she had been holding her breath.

"Shinji, I know you're awake." He said softly, so as not to wake the other two occupants of the room.

Shinji flinched, and then sheepishly opened one eye and flashed him an awkward smile, "How'd you know?"

"You sighed."

"I did?"

Hao nodded, and Shinji sighed again. She should have known better than to try and trick Hao.

"We need to talk." He said. The words made Shinji want to puke with nerves, which was a feeling she was not familiar with. She knew what this was about, but she had hoped to hold off any conversation of what she agreed to with Lyserg at least until the sun was up.

"Isn't that normally the girl's line?" She offered as a half hearted joke. Hao was not amused, and shot her the look to prove it. She groaned in defeat, "Yeah, alright then."

Without a word he took her hand and led her outside. Shinji wasn't sure what to make of this strangely tight lipped attitude Hao had apparently adopted, but it sure didn't help her nerves. She didn't know what he might already know, but it was clear that he at least knew something, which with his mindreading really wasn't all that surprising. Still, she would have expected more of a reaction than he was giving her, not this uncomfortable silence.

It was still dark, not quite late enough into the morning for sunrise, and the air was cool and languid. The early morning dew tickled her feet as they walked through the grass towards the forest, since she hadn't bothered to grab any shoes before they went outside, but the feeling was almost comforting in a way, and if she wasn't brimming with tension she would probably have stopped to appreciate it some more. The hand that firmly held hers was pleasantly warm, and she realized suddenly that despite the cold breeze that sent her hair flying wildly around her head she hadn't felt the chill at all. Hao had been feeding heat through her palm to keep her body warm. It made her relax a little. If Hao was bothering to think of her wellbeing then he can't be as mad as she thought he might be. But then she remembered that there wasn't really all that much for him to be mad at, all she had agreed to do was to stay out of the way unless Yoh's plan was something she could agree with, she wasn't directly going against him. Granted she wasn't exactly doing what she should be as his almost-but-not-quite-a-girlfriend girlfriend and standing by him, but they both knew long before they got into their strange relationship that they would never share the same opinion on things, and neither one was willing to change. Shinji became so lost in thought that she didn't even notice the scenery change as they left the ground of the inn and moved into the forest, and she barely registered the fact that they had both stopped walking. Only the loss of warmth from her hand as Hao stepped away from her brought her out of her thoughts.

"So you told Lyserg that you would help kill me." Hao said in such a calm, conversing manner that at first Shinji didn't quite take in what he had said. But then she played the words back over in her head and realization dawned on her. Horror spread across her face.

"No! No no no no no that is NOT what I- I didn't say that! I would never say that! I told Lyserg the exact opposite of that!" She cried, "I swear Hao, I would never kill you... again."

"That's not what Lyserg seems to think." Hao replied with a frown.

"Well Lyserg is wrong! I told him that I would go along with whatever Yoh has planned, or at least that I wouldn't interfere. Not once did I say that I would kill you. In fact, I spent most of the time insisting that I wouldn't! Hell I'll prove it if you want!"

Before Hao could say a word Shinji broke down the barrier around her mind, and every single thought and feeling came flooding out at once. They were fast, erratic and constantly breaking off into different trials of thought. She was horrified that he would think that she would agree to killing him, furious that Lyserg had so stupidly let out his every thought and feeling on their conversation pop into his head when he knew Hao could hear it, and horribly guilty that she had even agreed enough with Yoh and Lyserg that they were having to have this conversation in the first place. But one thing was sure, Shinji defiantly wasn't lying.

Hao had never accused her of it, and before they had even stepped outside he told himself that he would believe her if she said that Lyserg was mistaken, but he was surprised how relived he was to have it confirmed that she was telling the truth. Apparently trusting someone fully was still a little too hard for him, and she would never blame him for that with the past they shared. Still, Shinji was very good at getting people to think things without ever having to lie, and Lyserg was a prime example of this. From what Hao had understood from her mind Shinji had worded her reply to Lyserg in a way that had made the green haired boy believe that she was completely on their side, whether it was intentional or not. There was defiantly no trick in her mind though; in fact it was brutally honest, so much so that it included several different trains of thought about how much of an idiot she thought he was for even listening to Lyserg in the first place, and then even more on how guilty she was about having to go against him at all.

"You didn't need to do that." Hao said finally, suddenly wishing that he couldn't hear her thoughts at all.

"Yes I did. I had to make sure you knew everything exactly how it happened. Lyserg may have misunderstood what I meant but I sure as hell don't want you to." Shinji explained, holding his gaze firmly before fitting the barrier around her mind back into place. "I may not agree with your view on things, but I totally don't think killing you would solve anything even if I had wanted to, and I have a feeling that Yoh knows that too."

Hao was silenced into thought for a moment. "You think that Yoh's aim isn't to kill me?"

Shinji nodded, "I don't know what he's planning, but I'm sure there's more to this than what Lyserg told me."

Hao couldn't help it, a chuckle escaped his lips, "How can you be so intuitive about something like this and yet so stupid in everything else?"

"And why does every complement you give me come with an insult?" She countered, a small frown of annoyance crossing her face.

He shrugged slightly and smirked, "You insult me all the time."

"Oh blah," she replied, rolling her eyes, "most of the time you deserve it."

Hao decided not to comment on that one, and easily changed the subject, "do you want to learn the revival technique now or would you rather get a few hours more sleep first?"

Shinji shot him a surprised look, "You still want to teach me?"

"If I don't you'll probably get yourself killed." He smirked, even though the actual thought of it made him want to frown.

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence."She snapped sarcastically, "I can take care of myself just fine."

"Yes, because you took care of yourself so well a month ago when you we're stabbed in the back." Hao replied, easily matching her sarcasm.

"I don't have eyes in the back of my head Hao, and not everyone can her everything running through other people's heads like you can."

"It has nothing to do with mind reading; it's about being aware of your surroundings, something which you don't seem able to do."

"Ooh my spidey senses are tingling." She mocked, wiggling her fingers out in front of her.

"This is serious." Hao spat, "I'm not going to let you get caught off guard again, and if that means teaching you the armour oversoul then fine, I'd rather that than you ending up dead."

Shinji paused before her next retort tried to roll of her tongue. Hao might have been making jabs at her ability, but it was because he was worried, and just like every other time he was worried it always took an argument for him to admit it. She took a deep breath, reeling in her anger till her eyes faded from red back to blue. "Hao... I'm not going to die. It'll take a lot more than a few ships to kill me."

"What happened to not underestimating the humans?" He retorted.

"I'm not underestimating them like you will. I know their strengths and I know mine. They won't be able to surprise me."

Hao frowned, unconvinced.

Shinji sighed, and found herself wondering why on earth Hao bothered asking her to join the fight at all if he was going to panic so much about it. "Look if it makes you feel any better I'll keep my eyes all weird and mystified, no one can sneak up on me like that."

After a momentary pause, Hao sighed, "Alright fine, just be careful."

She smiled, "Aye aye mon capitan!"

Despite himself, Hao couldn't help but crack a small smile, and then he started teaching her all she would need to know about resurrection and the armour oversoul.

As she had promised, Shinji drew the mana into her eyes until the world shone with the vibrance of life. Looking out to see she could almost count the mass of glowing souls on the two closest ships, all of which ranging through from dark grey to near-white. The sight made her sigh. A lot of the people fighting were good, no doubt simply mislead to believe that the people on the island were criminals preparing for some crime against humanity. The sad thing was that in Hao's case they would be right. Shinji caught herself wondering if Hao would still hold onto his goal if he could see the same thing she could. When this was all over she was going to have to try and teach it to him, it would hardly make him any stronger when he could read minds, but just maybe it would change his perception on things. Then again she wasn't one hundred percent sure that it was teachable. Still, it would be worth a try.

A slight tremor of ice blue caught her attention, drawing her away from her thoughts, and as she turned towards it she noticed the blue haired boy Horo-Horo staring openly at her.

She frowned slightly, "Yeah I know, my eyes are weird, blah blah blah."

"Actually, I was going to say that they're pretty cool." He replied with a wide grin.

Shinji blinked in surprise, "You're kidding?"

"No really, I mean they're weird, but in a good way."

Shinji beamed at him, "You know, you're the first person to ever say that to me, for some reason most people find them scary." She laughed, and then leaned in closer to whisper into his ear, "The first time Hao saw them he ran away screaming like a little girl."

Horo laughed, and Hao glared at them both. Even if he couldn't hear her thoughts he could hear what she had said through the blue haired boy, and he was not impressed.

Shinji rolled her eyes, "Okay, so he didn't really, but he was pretty creeped out just like everyone else."

"I do not find your eyes scary mistress." Kekki grinned wolfishly, but she brushed him off with a wave of her hand.

"You don't count Kekki, you're not afraid of anything."

"I think we both know there is something that I am afraid of." He said, flashing her a secretive smile.

Shinji glanced over at the ocean ahead of them. She had forgotten about his fear of water, which seemed a bit funny considering he was teamed up with a water shaman. "So what are you doing here right now? I mean no offence but there's not much you can do from the beach."

"I would rather be here in case you needed me mistress, than hiding in the shadows like a coward." He explained.

"Miss Shinji won't have much use for us Kekki, where she is going." Rosie said with a small sad smile.

Hao suddenly looked over towards Rosie, a dark frown crossing his face, and a silent exchange went between them. Shinji frowned as she noticed the sudden red spike of panicked mana beside her, and a flicker of worry crossed Hao's face as he glanced over at her. What on earth was Rosie telling him? He masked the play of emotions as quickly as they had come, and no one else had seemed to notice them, but he couldn't hide his agitated mana from her eyes. Something defiantly wasn't right.

Not wanting to cause a scene by asking Hao directly, she opened the thought to him. For a moment it seemed that he was going to ignore her, but then his gaze flickered in her direction and he moved a little closer to her.

"When the fight starts stay in my sights, and don't go too far." He murmured, just loud enough for her to hear.

She wanted to glare at him, and she knew that if her eyes weren't the swirling mass of blue energy they would be bleeding into red with rage. How dare he treat her like a child! She didn't need a babysitter, she was one of the strongest shaman there! He didn't even treat Opacho that way, and she was six! But then the constant thrum of red energy reminded her that for some reason Hao was worried for her, even though he wasn't showing it on the outside, and her rage faded into mild irritation. She nodded, even if it felt humiliating to give in so easily, and it was enough to still the thrumming mana. Apparently whatever Hao was worried about he was sure he could protect her from himself, and that only pissed her off more.

"Hao, don't forget our promise." Yoh said, unaware of the silent tension between his brother and the water shaman.

The usual arrogant smirk returned to Hao's face as he acknowledged his younger half. "Alright, don't kill too many, correct? Even if we can resurrect people many times our mana is limited, this will be good training for you guys."

Yoh frowned slightly, "If that line is crossed-"

"Then I will revive them. The Jyugonzonshi was originally a revival technique devised by me, and I have more than enough mana to use it."

Shinji glanced over at Hao then, unable to keep from eavesdropping on the conversation. For a moment she wondered what a Jyugonzonshi was, but then she realized that it must just be a fancy Japanese way of saying resurrection spell, or something like that, and lost interest.

"This will be the first and last time we fight together as brothers, for that reason I will keep my promise." Hao continued, the spirit of fire appearing behind him and towering over the group intimidating, "Okay?"

Yoh nodded with a small smile, "Okay."

"Then let's go." In an instant Hao summoned the spirit of fire into his armour oversoul, and flew out across the sea to the ships lying helplessly in wait.

Shinji cursed loudly, realizing that she had been left behind already and Nindie appeared beside her, glancing after Hao.

"We aren't going to let him take all the credit, are we?" The ghost girl asked.

"Hell no! Let's do this Nindie, I bet we can sink more ships than he can. After all, we do have an awful lot of water we can use."

Nindie grinned in response, "I think it's about time we took him down a peg or two."

The sound of the first explosion drew them to action, and Nindie quickly vanished, slipping into the ocean and stretching out their control over the water surrounding the ships. From her spot on the shore Shinji lifted her arms. The water followed the motion, rising high into the sky to create a huge, monstrous wave that blocked out the light of the midday sun. Hundreds of tiny white dots swam inside the swell of salted liquid, with the glow of the souls of fish trapped inside the wave. Small beads of sweat formed on her brow, and her face twisted into a frown of concentration. With a sudden sharp motion and a silent apology to the fish, she threw out her arms and the wave shot towards the ships at an alarming rate.

'_Incoming.' _She thought to Hao, unable to hide her smirk as she watched the fiery form of his mana shoot up high into the sky to avoid the oncoming wave. The four closest ships, including the one that Hao had caught alight, were swallowed whole by water and dragged down to the ocean floor, before the sea regained its former calm composure.

Shinji couldn't help it, a wide grin spread across her face and she fist pumped the air. "Booyah! Take that sucka!" She cheered, and then added as a mental note to Hao: '_Maybe you should stick close to me, I would hate for you to get hurt.' _It was petty and she knew it, but quite honestly she really didn't care.

The group of shaman around her all stared openly in shock, but Shinji was too busy to pay much attention as she started dragging the humans floundering around in the sea to shore, freezing their legs together to keep them from causing any trouble.

"You may want to keep an eye on these guys," Shinji said, finally addressing the group, "They won't be able to do much, but better safe than sorry, right?"

"I will keep a close eye on them mistress." Kekki said, grinning a wide, sharp toothed smile at the shivering humans.

"And I will keep an eye on Kekki." Rosie added reassuringly, making Shinji laugh.

"Thanks guys." She smiled. It was then that she noticed the surprise on everyone else's faces, and her smile dropped, "What?"

"You- you just sunk three ships in one move!" Horohoro cried, pointing out to see for emphasis.

"Four actually, if you include the one Hao caught on fire, and with minimal casualties," Shinji replied casually, "I told you all I wasn't a pushover. Honestly, why is everyone always so surprised when I do something cool?"

"Apparently killing Hao just isn't enough these days." Nindie added, breaking out of the oversoul in favour of standing beside Shinji with folded arms, "Though you have to admit Shinji, you haven't done much but get your ass kicked lately, so you can't really blame them."

"Well we made it into the third round, that's got to count for something!"

"You let Kekki and Rosie do all the work. We haven't actually done any real fighting since Hao almost killed you, and that was months ago."

Shinji was going to reply, but then she realized that Nindie was right. Unlike Hao, who showed off his power at every occasion, Shinji hadn't actually done anything to prove that she really was a strong shaman. She may have beaten three of the patch officials to get back into the tournament, but no one was actually there to see it, and the one time Nindie had shown her spirit of rain form in the arena she had only stopped a small wave and done nothing else. Her fight with Hao in front of the Xlaws had been fake, and had never even given her the illusion of having the upper hand. She had even pretended to give in so that she could 'save' Jeanne. She wasn't even going to think of getting stabbed in the back by the crazy Matrix wannabe, and having to be saved by Hao and Ren. All in all Shinji hadn't really done anything to protect her image in this lifetime. No wonder Lyserg had come to her in the night about killing Hao, and Yoh had come up with a plan without her. All this time she had been running around claiming that she would beat Hao and become shaman king, but no one had taken her seriously. Even Jeanne, who had been begging her for help had stopped asking. Shinji had unknowingly been playing the fool, and that pissed her off more than anything.

Out to sea three more explosions could be heard as three more ships went down. Shinji grit her teeth in anger, and without a word summoned Nindie into her armour oversoul.

Rosie moved towards her, "Shinji, don't be reckless." She said in a disapproving tone.

'_Great, even Rosie doesn't believe in me.' _Shinji thought to herself miserably, _'Well we'll show her, we'll show all of them.' _And without bothering to respond she launched herself into the air, and shot towards the battle ground on the sea.

xxx

**So there you have it, the new chapter. Honestly I didn't originally intend for it to end on such a... uh, depressing note, but oh well, I think it kind of works =D Well anyway, like I said before I'll be updating again next Tuesday when I get internet access again, so until then people, please review =D**


	34. C34  Fears

**Hey guys! Here is the next chapter! =D Okay, I actually have to run and do my volunteer work but I didn't want to go without updating, so I didn't really have all that much time to fix any little mistakes. I'm going to apologise in advance for that because there probably will be a couple, so sorry! If there are and you spot them please message me and I'll fix them by next week if I don't have time to do it when I get back =]**

**girlfun: Haha yh, figured it was about time Shinji did something cool XP**

**opalllzfun: Uuuuuuuuuum...no lol =D For one thing, Shinji would probably murder me O.o lol**

**Shanda14x: Well hopefully she's a little more impressive now lol. Thanks =D Glad to know it wasn't depressing, I was a little worried seeing as most of my chapters don't usually end with Shinji all miserable lol. It's awesome to hear that Shinji is interesting, generally I think that a main character has to have something going for them, otherwise even if the whole plot is great it can get a little dull =/ Deenami-Nicole-Sciashi said before that it's like she had ADHD or something, which is pretty funny cuz my housemate actually said she thinks I might have it the other day lol =] And I think everyone here has a little crush on Hao, I know I do ;D lol**

**LIES: first of all, lol for the name XD and second I did say 'next' Tuesday, which when I think about it now can be a bit confusing since I updated on a Sunday =/ Basically when I say next Tuesday I mean not the Tuesday coming but the one after, otherwise I would have said the Tuesday coming... I know, confusing. Maybe it's just a Plymouth thing =/ I'll try to be a little more clear on that one from now on, so thanks for pointing it out =]**

**anto: here it is! And thanks a lot =D**

**aaaand here's the chapter!**

Chapter 34- Fears

Hao knew the moment Shinji appeared beside him, but he was so caught up in the thrill of the action that he barely acknowledged her at all. Another ship exploded and he grinned with a wicked excitement. This was just a small taste of what he had in store for the humans; it was just a shame that he would have to bring them back to life afterwards. Yoh was too soft for his own good. So far no one besides Shinji had moved from the beach. He could hear their thoughts and it made his grin wider. They were afraid of him, afraid of his power and what the future might bring. This was why he had wanted his brother's assistance in the fight, to give him and his foolish friends a devastating taste of his destructive powers. Let them plot away behind his back, he could handle anything they would throw at him. He was so close now he could almost taste it. No one could stop him from being the shaman king, not this time.

Shinji fought with all the force of a one man army, pushing aside her ideals in a way that made her hard and numb inside. There was no holding back as she froze a ship solid and split it into five separate segments with the uncomfortable groan of metal, watching it sink slowly into a watery grave before moving onto her next target. The need to prove herself had made her ruthless, and for once she wasn't fighting half heartedly. A helicopter fired at her, but she blocked the bullets with a wall of ice and then shot the water up to greet it, dragging the flying machine into the sea.

"Shinji, I think you need to calm down," Nindie warned from inside the armour oversoul, "we've been sinking stuff but we haven't been pulling people to shore like before."

Shinji frowned, and a sigh of annoyance escaped her. She wanted to vent out her frustrations by sinking stuff, pulling people out of the ocean just didn't help. They should just drown for being so stupid and attacking them in the first place. As the thought left her mind it hit her in a sudden sense of realization that she was being an idiot. She was acting far too much like Hao, and although she was mad that no one took her seriously, there was no use gaining herself a ruthless reputation because that really wasn't like her at all. At the rate she was going everyone on the beach was going to start thinking that she was a power crazed tyrant. She forced herself to stop; to take a deep breath and calm herself down. Getting worked up helped no one, least of all herself.

"Sorry Nindie, I'm alright now." She said, ashamed of her own temper.

"It's alright; honestly I'm pretty pissed too. But now really isn't the time to get worked up about it. Save the anger for later when we can beat the crap out of Hao in sparring or something." Nindie replied, grinning internally.

Shinji laughed and nodded, already feeling more like herself.

"Okay, let's do this properly then." She said, flashing her own grin.

It didn't take long to sweep the floating sailors to shore, their legs bound in blocks of ice so that the conscious ones didn't cause trouble for the other shaman, who still stood dumbly along the sand. The water shaman rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the battle at hand.

Hao flashed past her in a blur of red, and a second later the ship to her left exploded in a fury of fiery colours. A chorus of terrified screams filled the air, and several fear filled sailors leapt off the side of the ship and into the water below. Hao appeared beside her then, grinning eerily at his handiwork in a way that made her frown. He was enjoying this far too much, and it was time to burst his bubble.

Shinji waved her arms in a slow, deliberate motion that the strange glowing arms of her oversoul followed as the water around the ship rose up, cocooning it in a blanket of salted sea before pulling it down into its murky depths. With swirling, rippling irises she sought out every dim glow of the drowning souls trapped within the wreckage, and swept them free with a current that led them up to the surface. More than a hundred heads bobbed above the water, all gasping for breath. Shinji found herself wondering what all these people would do once the fight was over and the shaman had all left on the patch sub for the next round. They would surely be stranded for a while at least. And how would they explain their overwhelming defeat at the hands of only a few rag tag individuals. She was sure it would be an interesting, yet humiliating story to tell.

The fiery mana beside her spiked up in irritation, but also with something else. Was that pride she was sensing from Hao? This was beyond unnatural. She glanced over at him, and noticed the small smile hidden away in the corner of his lip.

"Well, I suppose no one can accuse you of being weak now." He said, catching her eye. Clearly he had been eavesdropping on her conversation with Horohoro earlier.

Shinji grinned at him, glad that at least one person didn't think she was a total weakling. Of course, she highly doubted that anyone thought that of her anymore. Still, it was nice to hear it aloud, even if it probably killed Hao to admit it.

"You're still going to try though aren't you?" She replied.

He smirked, "Oh course, you still can't even hope to match my power."

"Oh blah, you aren't that much stronger."

"I'm also smarter."

Shinji rolled her eyes, "One of these days your head is going to get so big that it pops, and I will not be the one to clean up the mess from your ego-goo."

"Well you should, after all the times I have had to clean up after you." Hao countered smugly.

"Like when?" Shinji frowned.

"Like when I had to heal you after our fight, get you back from the Xlaws when you stupidly allowed yourself to be used as bait, when you tried to damage my reputation by yelling at me in the arena, and then there's the unforgettable time when you were almost stabbed to death by a man in a suit."

"Oh will you drop that already? It's not like I actually died. And we're shaman for crying out loud, what's the big deal about death?" Shinji snapped.

Hao glared at her, "That's not the point."

"Then please, enlighten me. What _is_ the point?"

He looked as if he was about to reply, but Nindie decided that she was bored of yet another domestic argument, and beat him to it.

"Oh my god, will you both just shut up? It's like listening to an old married couple!"

Apparently the spirit of fire agreed, because there was a small grumble of annoyance from Hao's armour oversoul that made Shinji jump in surprise, and Hao glanced down at the armoured face at his chest.

She couldn't help herself, the water shaman laughed. "I think we've just been told."

"So it seems." Hao replied with a smirk of amusement, and then turned his attention on her own oversoul, which he couldn't help but think looked like awfully familiar. "I've been meaning to ask, why is your armour oversoul the same as Lyserg's?"

"It's not the same."

"It's very similar."

Shinji shrugged, "I'm not the most imaginative person in the world, and his was pretty cool. But I did change it a little, Lyserg's hair isn't nearly long enough to pull this off." She said, swishing hair around like a wet dog, and battering Hao with the spectral tentacles attached to different chunks of her hair. "See? You know you could probably use this too, your hair is defiantly long enough."

"I wouldn't want to."

"Why not? We would match. It'd be funny, though it would look a little stupid on you... meh, still funny."

"If I matched you then I would also match Lyserg." Hao pointed out rather bluntly.

"I told you already, it doesn't match Lyserg's, it's just similar. For one thing, mines blue, his is more green. If you did it then it would probably be red." She explained, and then gasped, "Oh my god we would totally be the power puff girls!"

Nindie burst out laughing, and Shinji grinned widely. Hao had no idea who these 'power puff girls' were, but he really didn't think they sounded too good, so he shot her an irritated look.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh lighten up Hao, it was just a joke. Besides, You'd have to be more ginger to pull off Blossom."

Nindie laughed again, and Hao decided it was high time to change the subject.

"We should continue sinking these ships. The sooner we get this job done the sooner we can leave for the patch sub."

"Let's not forget the resurrecting you promised Yoh you would do, not that there's really all that many people to resurrect anyway thanks to me." Shinji grinned smugly.

"Now who's getting a big head?" Hao retorted, "Come on, let's finish this."

"Ah, what an odious task this is." Shinji replied, theatrically placing her hand to her forehead and sighing.

The sound of rapid gunfire cut the end of their conversation short, but both armour oversouls did their jobs perfectly, shielding their wearers fully from the barrage of bullets. Shinji's strange tentacles spread out and wrapped around her body in a protective shell, but the two longest ones at the front were left free to act as arms. One grabbed a bullet out of the air and threw it back at the machine gun firing at them from a ship below, where it shot straight into the barrel and the whole gun exploded. Hao was already back on the move, taking down the ship in a fury of fire with more power than was really necessary. Apparently he was not impressed by the rude interruption. Shinji watched in amusement as the large fiery mass of mana spiked in anger, but then something else caught her eye. Amongst the mass of different greys were three flickers of colour. There were shaman aboard the ships. The two closest to them were weak and unimpressive, but she got the feeling that they were each preparing an attack, an attack on Hao to be exact. She wasn't particularly worried for him, but she warned him none the less. Better to be safe than sorry. He heard her cautioning thoughts as soon as the barrier around her mind was temporarily dropped, and he swiftly moved towards the small colourful glows.

Shinji then turned her attention on the other shaman, alone and much further away from the other two, closer to the back of the fleet. Somehow it seemed strangely familiar, though she was sure she had never seen that weird off-lavender colour before. It wasn't as if she used her power very often. Hao's warning popped into her head for a moment. She wasn't supposed to leave his sight, as irritating as that was. But then, this was only one shaman, and from the looks of it not even a particularly strong one. There was no doubt in her mind that she couldn't handle it, and she was curious. It wouldn't take long, five minutes maybe to battle and then question this mysterious shaman. She would be back before Hao even noticed she was gone.

It took her all of ten seconds to reach the ship, flying at an exhilarating speed so that none of the boats she passed would even have time to fire on her. Silently, so as not to be noticed, she summoned a tiny flame onto her finger and cut a human sized hole into the side of the ship, and slipped inside. Her eyes told her that the shaman was somewhere below her, but the problem was that although she could see it, she couldn't see the path that led towards it.

"Nindie, any chance you know a thing or two about the layout of ships?" Shinji asked, though she knew the chances were slim to none.

"Not even a little."Nindie replied unhelpfully, "but we could always blast our way through."

Shinji nodded, "Yeah I thought of that, but I'd rather not let the whole crew know we're here. This is strictly an in and out job."

"You haven't noticed it yet?" The ghost girl asked, making her shaman frown in confusion.

"Noticed what?"

"The ships practically empty Shinji, there's almost no one here."

To her surprise, Shinji realized that her friend was right; as she looked around she could see a significant absence of greyish souls on the ship. Aside from the shaman and strangely one dark grey soul of a human beside it downstairs, there was nothing living here at all.

"Why would the military have an empty ship with only two people inside? It doesn't make sense." She thought aloud.

"I don't know," Nindie replied, "But I guess we're going to find out."

It took them a lot longer than Shinji had predicted to cut their way through to the floor below, and she could feel the tiny flame on her finger slowly sapping away a small chunk of her mana, but after five minutes of burning through layers of metal, they found themselves outside the door to the room with the shaman inside. For a moment she waited cautiously outside the door.

"It's the mess hall." Nindie pointed out, gesturing with one of the tentacles of the armour oversoul to the sign beside the door, "I'm not the only one who can feel all the spirits gathered in there right?"

"No you're not, I feel them too." The water shaman muttered with a frown.

"But what are they all doing here?"

"Who knows, though I get the feeling that they're waiting for us." Shinji answered wearily. This was all far too suspicious, and although she was confident that she could handle anything, she couldn't help but get the feeling that they were walking into some kind of trap. The faint stench of death touched her nose from beyond the door and made her shudder. For a moment she debated calling Hao for backup, but then angrily threw the thought aside. She was Shinji Lemora for crying out loud, she didn't need back up, especially when she was kitted out with the unstoppable armour oversoul and eyes that made her impossible to sneak up on. No one would be able to surprise her this time. She was not going to be stabbed in the back again. With that thought in mind she boldly pushed open the doors and stepped inside.

The first thing she noticed as she entered the room was the total darkness around them, fought off only by the thin trail of light trickling in from the hallway. Suddenly the door slammed behind her, encasing them fully in the clutches of the fathomless black. Shinji wasn't left blind though; she could see the glowing figures of the shaman and the human at the back of the room, and feel the spirits hiding away in the dark that surrounded them. If it wasn't for her senses she would have thought that she was alone in the room, because not even a breath could be heard. She wrinkled her nose at the smell all around her though, the smell of slowly decaying flesh that made her stomach churn. Something really wasn't right here.

She was impatient now, wanting to get this over with to push away the feeling of being on edge, and was the first one to break the silence. "Well this is a fantastically warm welcome. What's with the dark? Are you vampires or something? Because you know that there are such things as light bulbs, and as far as I know they should be fine for undead eyes."

Nindie stifled a laugh, and Shinji watched in mild amusement as the purple mana hummed in irritation before someone spoke from the darkness.

"As usual Shinji Lemora, you seem to take nothing seriously."

Shinji frowned, but not because of the comment. She recognised that voice, though she strained to remember a face that matched. It was old sounding, clearly male, and with an air of egotistical dignity that irritated her to no end. And then she remembered it. It was the voice of the master, the head of the Lemora household who tried to have her assassinated only a little while ago. Only that old coot could ever have a voice so full of self satisfied smugness that could even rival Hao's. She could forgive Hao for it though, because at least his bark matched his bite, but if that purple mana really was that of the masters then she really had to question the Lemora's judgement for ever letting him become the head of the household. Rosie was nine and she was already stronger than this buffoon, and had a hell of a lot more common sense. Rosie had never sent a Mr. Smith wannabe to kill her for one thing. Well, at least if she were to beat the snot out of him now the Lemoras might decide to find themselves a better leader. And if not then she would just have to find one for them.

"Life's more fun when you take it with a spoon full of sugar. Beside if I didn't I would end up a miserable old coot like you _'Master'_ if that is indeed your real name." Shinji replied finally, and then wondered to herself where that quote had come from.

"Shinji, focus." Nindie mumbled to her.

"Right right." Shinji muttered back, and then spoke louder for the master to hear, "So what is your name anyway? Your parents can hardly have been arrogant enough to name you 'master'."

"You're supposed to know everything aren't you? Or is your supposed training in hell about as useless as you are?" The man replied.

Shinji smirked, realizing she was already beginning to get under his skin, "Aren't you a little too old for childish jabs?" She said, knowing full well how hypocritical that sounded, "And besides, I've never claimed to know everything, that's more Hao's claim than mine. Or maybe the Shaman King's. Then again I am going to be the Shaman King, so I suppose it's only a matter of time before I know everything."

"Ah, now there is something else I must disagree with. I'm afraid I cannot allow you to become the Shaman... King."

"Oh," She asked in amusement, "and why is that?"

"You have become far too unruly to be of any use to me, and your apparent relationship with Hao Asakura doesn't tie in well with my plan if you refuse to kill him again. Unless of course you have changed your mind?" he asked, ands he could almost hear the sneaking smile in his voice.

"Oh please, when have I ever been anything but unruly? The only reason I ever bothered to listen to you in the slightest was out of respect to my sister, your ancestor, and even then it was only if it suited me. But you just had to push it too far didn't you? What in that tiny brain of yours ever made you think that I would bow down to a weak little infant like you? Especially when you get your stupid matrix crony to try and kill me! So no, you idiot, I haven't changed my mind."

He laughed mockingly, "I predicted this response. Well if that's the way you feel then I suppose you leave me no choice."

Shinji frowned in suspicion, and then the lights suddenly flickered on. For a moment she was blinded by the sudden brightness of the room, but as her vision cleared she realized two things.

The first was that the master was not who she had expected him to be. He was tall, ridiculously thin and pale with a balding head, moustached upper lip and thick rimmed glasses placed on the nose of his strangely round head. He was much younger than she had expected as well, looking to be in his mid forties rather than the late sixties she had expected, though he did have the weathered look to his skin of an older man. But then she noticed the most surprising thing of all. The purple mana didn't surround him, but the dark grey colour did. The master was human.

She almost fell over in shock. It was utterly ridiculous. How on earth did a human manage to become the head of an all shaman household? He could see spirits, that much was clear at least from the times he had spoken to Nindie, but it was clear as day that he had absolutely no shaman capabilities. Shinji thought that the head would be someone with strength and intelligence, as it usually was with shaman families, and although she could grudgingly admit that he wasn't completely stupid (at least where common sense wasn't concerned) he certainly wasn't strong. She was about to comment on it when she realized the second thing.

The woman to his left with the lavender mana was her newest birth mother, a wild woman with masses of dirty blonde hair tangled together like a lion's mane. She was a well known dàoshì and had a horrible temper, which was part of the reason Shinji never really liked her. Thankfully, the woman wasn't exactly the most maternal figure so as an infant Shinji almost never saw her, and then when she was three she left the estate with Nindie to fend for herself. It was much better than living with a dàoshì and her Jiang Shi servants. Although she hadn't seen them in her younger years she knew it was only a matter of time if she stayed living there, but apparently there was no escaping that inevitable encounter.

To her utter horror, the room was full of those foul animated corpses, surrounding her completely so that she couldn't even back up to avoid them. She felt her body go rigid and numb, like a deer caught in headlights, and her fear was plain for all to see as her body began to tremble and her eyes went wide in terror.

The master laughed, clearly amused by thee petrified state the water shaman had been reduced to just from looking at a few Jiang Shi. Shinji realized how this man had become the leader after all. He knew exactly how to manipulate and terrify people into doing his bidding, finding out their weaknesses and using them against them. He may not be able to fight, but this man knew how to incapacitate a shaman. No one was immune to their worst fears, not even Shinji Lemora.

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**Ok, really go now lol. For the record I will be updating every Tuesday from now on because I don't have internet at my place and this is the only time I can actually do it =D Anywayz, hope u liked it! Please review =]**


	35. C35 Fears part 2

**Wow, sorry for the late update guys, this chapter was a lot harder to re-write than I thought and you'll probo understand why when u read it XP**

**anonymusBlack: Lol, yh . well here's the update, thanks! =D**

**Shanda14x: Thank you! Honestly it wasn't my plan to do it this way but I guess it works =] And yh, I am following to the end, but not word for word cuz that's just lazy. There are a few little surprises in store, so hopefully this isn't a disappointment to anyone =/ And seriously, why can't he be real! **

**Girlfun: ummm no comment to the first part lol. Sorry it's a little late! And yeah, sadly it is close to the end, but there's still a few chapters left, and then a couple mini stories I have planned so don't worry =]**

**Tifa2001: Here it is! =D**

Chapter 35 – Fears part 2

Shinji's face paled considerably as she looked around at the animated bodies surrounding her, and she felt physically sick.

"Ah, so it seems our information was correct. You are afraid of the Jiang Shi, how very convenient considering that your very own mother is a dàoshì." The Master gloated with a sneer.

Shinji couldn't tear her eyes away from the corpses around her no matter how much she tried, and her throat went dry. "H-how-"

"How did I know?" He laughed coldly, "Oh Shinji, did you really think that I would only send one person to watch you? Mr Smith may have been the only one to approach you, but there have been countless others keeping you under observation from a distance. Even Rosie has been feeding me information from time to time. Why do you think I insisted that you take her with you?"

Shinji felt her heart drop through her nerves, and the tension in her limbs increased. Rosie. The girl had always been quiet and a little secretive, though she thought that was simply part of her character. What if it was just as the master said and she had been feeding him information? What if she had told him about Kekki? The existence of his species were not common knowledge, even in the shaman world, but if Rosie had told him there was no telling what this crazed man would do to them. No doubt the ly-hounds would be the next target in his agenda, because creatures born of darkness that eat human flesh could never really be seen as anything but evil to a single minded man like The Master.

"Of course, her information has been completely useless, your interest in cookies is hardly the kind of information that could be worth anything." He continued, oblivious to the relief it brought her. He clearly didn't know about Kekki, so Rosie obviously wasn't as much under his command as he thought, "Still, our friend Mr. Smith was far more successful, even if he failed in killing you as I had planned he was a useful tool. It was a shame that the Asakura killed him, but I already had the information I needed, so he served his initial purpose well enough. Mansumi Oyamada

was already planning to drop in on this little tournament, and naturally he just had to get me involved when I told them I could bring down their biggest threats. And here we are."

Despite the fear gripping at her throat as her eyes constantly scanned the mass of decaying bodies surrounding her, she choked out a laugh, "Is- is it customary for all evil villains to spill out their every move? B-because you know, you're taking the stereotypical baddie to the max." Her body was trembling now, cold sweat beading on her brow. She was doing a better job of keeping it together than she thought possible, but apparently she was reaching her limit and her limbs no longer did what she told them to do, frozen in place like a petrified statue. If fear hadn't numbed her senses she would have realized that it would have been easy to escape, blowing a hole through the ceiling would have made a quick exit that the Jiang Shi wouldn't have been able to follow her through, or failing that, she could have just knocked them aside with the tentacle arms of her armour oversoul and fled through the door she entered by. There were hundreds of ways to get out of this situation, but almost all of them needed her to at least move, but her body wouldn't allow it. One of the Jiang Shi stepped out of the tight circle surrounding her, moving slowly closer with an arm outstretched and a weak groan that was enough for Shinji's legs to finally give out. She collapsed to the floor with wide, terrified eyes and unintentionally released Nindie from the armour oversoul, losing her last measure of control over herself.

"Shinji, what the hell?!" The ghost girl cried, knocking back the Jiang Shi with a blast of water, "Get up damn it!"

The shaman girl didn't even seem able to hear her anymore, and she clutched her he head in her hands, shaking violently as more of the zombified bodies began lumbering towards her, reaching out with dirty claw-like fingers.

"Shit!" Nindie cursed, battering away more eager hands as the Jiang Shi began to move more animatedly towards them, only to have others take their place, "Shit, shit, shit!"

The Jaing Shi weren't really the problem, their movements were slow, and although there were so many of them that it should have been overwhelming they seemed a little lazy in their efforts. Shinji was just being toyed with at the moment, The Master and his accomplice (Nindie refused to call the woman Shinji's mother) were simply trying to see how far they could push her before she broke completely. The Master's sadistic laughter echoed around the room. Clearly he was enjoying the show put on for him, watching in a sick kind of amusement from the sidelines as Shinji pulled herself further and further into a ball on the floor, her weak sobs drowned out by the groans of the undead. Nindie caught sight of the triumphant sneer on his face and glared viciously at him.

"You bastard! What the hell is wrong with you? What did we ever do to you?" She spat at him.

He didn't seem intimidated, and continued to look at them with the superior smile spread across his lips, "I have no use for pawns that won't do as they're told, especially when they are no longer needed for my plans. So she can die."

Nindie's opinion of this man couldn't get any worse. If it wasn't bad enough that he was practically calling them useless, what made it worse was that he was getting other people to carry out his plans because he was incapable of doing anything himself. The double standard was more than irritating, especially when he so clearly disregarded life. With people like this around it was no wonder that Hao wanted to kill all of the humans.

"That's just sick." She said with narrow eyes, battering away yet another Jiang Shi.

"I like to think of it as a kindness, like putting down a stray dog. She was just going to die anyway, maybe not right now, but when Rosie becomes the shaman queen she will destroy all of the shaman in the world just as I have planned, and then humanity and law will flourish."

The ghost girl stared at him in complete and utter disbelief, dumbfounded by this man's crazed plan. She almost laughed aloud at how ridiculously Ironic this was. It was like being stood in front of the ugly old human verson of Hao, except this one was worse because he was a total fruit cake and his bark was bigger than his bite. In fact, he was like a toothless yappy dog that relied on the bigger dogs to do everything for him. So okay, maybe he wasn't quite like Hao, but his ideas sure were. How unoriginal. Nindie couldn't understand how he had become the leader of the Lemora household in the first place, and how on earth did he convince an entire shaman family to support him in a plot to kill all shaman? And what was Rosie's part in all of this? The kid wasn't an idiot, she might be a little emotionless but she wasn't heartless. There was no way she would listen an order that would kill thousands of her own kind.

"Why would Rosie ever listen to you?"

"Because unlike your useless shaman, Rosie knows how to take orders. She is the perfect little soldier to carry out my plan, and she will do exactly what I tell her to do." The master explains, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

There was a laugh behind her, small and weak, and as Nindie turned around she realized it had come from Shinji, who was struggling to her feet. The ghost girl moved to help her, blasting back another twelve Jiang Shi that had gotten too close while she had been talking, but they were still only harmlessly reaching towards the shaman to scare her, and it seemed that it had finally clicked in her head that they weren't really a threat at all.

"You don't know Rosie at all do you?" Shinji said, her voice growing stronger, "She's got a better head on her shoulders than you have, and a hell of a lot more common sense."

The dàoshì snarled at her,"My daughter will do what she was raised to do, she will follow her orders without complaint."

Shinji laughed again. "She's also my sister, _mother,_ and a child. Rosie's not one of your brain dead zombies."

"You little bitch!" The woman screamed, looking as if she would leap over her Jiang Shi and throttle the water shaman if she could. Instead, one of the Jiang Shi moved for her, breaking away from the other and throwing itself at Shinji in a flurry of claws and teeth. A weak scream of panic escaped her lips, and Shinji cringing away as its finger nails broke through the skin of her neck as it tried to get a grip on her throat. Nindie knocked it back quickly, cursing herself for not being faster and then turn swiftly on the closest few bodies around them and forcing them back several feet. Shinji felt like she was going to be sick. It was too much like her nightmares from long ago, and it took a lot just for her to keep standing. Logic told her there was nothing to worry about, that if she was powerful enough to take on an armada she should be able to handle a few Jiang Shi, but as much of her mind reassured her she was fine her body just wouldn't listen. It was humiliating.

"Now now Minerva, calm down, it's a little too early to for that." The Master said, a threat hidden behind his painted smile. The woman hissed in annoyance, an animalistic sound similar to that of a cat, but the Jiang Shi drew back none the less. "Right then," He continued, turning his attention back to the trembling shaman, "I'm not an unreasonable man, so going to give you one last chance. Fight for me, and I will let you live."

Shinji glanced around at the bodies surrounding her, a nervous look on her face, but even faced with all of this her pride wouldn't allow herself to be used, and her heart wouldn't let her do anything to hurt Hao. If that meant getting torn apart by the Jiang Shi then so be it. "Tempting offer, but nothing you say will convince me to kill Hao for you."

The Master laughed, something she didn't expect, and looked at her with a cruel weasel-like smile, "That won't be necessary, I imagine that by now Hao Asakura will have already been taken care of."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously at him, and for a moment she forgot all about the zombified creatures that terrified her so much, her thoughts only on the fact that he had threatened Hao. "What are you talking about?"

"My dear Shinji, did you really think I would risk killing you without getting rid of the Asakura as well? He is the biggest obstacle in creating my world of equality, so I hired one of the rogue Xlaws to eliminate him. I believe the strongest angel in existence should be more than enough for the job, but if not there's still the voodoo witch. From what I've seen her curses are unstoppable. So you see Shinji, there really isn't much for you to do but accept my proposal."

She hated him. That was all she could feel. A deep loathing for this man and his schemes that surpassed any anger she had ever felt before. Her mouth moved before she could filter her thoughts, and although she knew it was completely stupid to provoke him she really couldn't bring herself to care anymore. "How stupid are you? There is no way in hell that you or any of your lackeys can kill that idiot. You may think that you're some big shot evil genius with your ridiculously stereotypical name and weak ass shaman minions, but unlike you, you weak pathetic little excuse for a man, Hao is one of the strongest shaman ever. In fact, though it pains me to admit it, he _is_ the strongest shaman ever, and he sure as hell won't be taken out by a worthless little runt like you."

Several things all happened at once in such a rush of movement that Shinji barely had time to react as the Jiang Shi all leapt towards her in a mass of biting and scratching limbs that tore at her skin and tried to gouge her eyes out. She dropped to the floor quickly, tucking herself into a ball in the vain attempt at protecting herself, but she could already feel her limbs clamping up in fear, and the blood running down her back from some particularly sharp fingernails. Her hair was pulled out in large bloodied clumps by dirty snatching hands, and tears of pain and terror rolled down her cheeks. Amongst the shrill battle cries of the undead she could hear Nindie shouting and cursing, calling desperately for her to do something. It was frustrating, without Shinji she was significantly weaker. There was only so much a ghost could do on its own, even when that ghost is the spirit of rain. If the shaman girl didn't do something soon she would be torn to shreds, but the sudden attack from the Jiang Shi had petrified her body into total stillness, and her worst nightmares were realized. She was going to die at the hands of the undead, and she was too helpless to do anything. But that wasn't true. This wasn't a dream. She could control what she could do, and she was letting the fear of the terrors of her past get the better of her. She wasn't a child anymore, even if her current body would beg to differ. She had a thousand years of fighting and training behind her, had faced the worst kind of Oni numerous times as she battled through hell to be reborn with all the extra power she needed, and if that wasn't enough she had dealt with Hao every day for more than a year. There was nothing she couldn't deal with. Besides, Hao would kill her if she let herself be murdered by an ugly old balding human.

She was not going to die here, not like this.

"Nindie." She croaked out, pain filling her voice as one of her arms were bent into an unnatural angle until the bone snapped.

"I'm here." And she was, just like she had always been. Nindie didn't deserve to see her friend tortured to death. They had a tournament to win.

There was a bright flash as they merged, Shinji giving over her body to her friends influence with a unity and allowed the spirit to move for her. She was determined not to die, but she still didn't have the control for anything more powerful, but it was enough, and she followed Nindie's direction with an overwhelming sense of relief. They pushed the Jiang Shi aside with surprising ease even with her broken arm, throwing them off with her good arm and punching straight through the chest of the closest corpse. Shinji wanted to vomit, but Nindie pushed her through it and summoned water into their palm, blasting a line that lead straight towards Shinji's psychotic mother. The first blast missed her easily, but there was nothing blocking the way for the second, and it shot out towards the woman so fast that it knocked her off of her feet. Nindie wasted no time in freezing her to the spot she had fallen, trapping her in place. They dove forward, and with one quick blow to the head they knocked her unconscious. The Jiang Shi fell to the floor around them like puppets without strings, and Nindie laughed at the shocked look on The Master's face. The whole fight had taken less than thirty seconds, and without the Jiang Shi he was completely powerless. His legs were frozen together before he could even blink, but in that same moment the unity broke and Shinji fell back to her knees trembling.

"I think I'm going to puke." She muttered, holding onto her stomach.

"You okay?" Nindie asked gently, placing a comforting hand on her back.

"Last time I checked feeling sick was not okay, so no." Shinji replied, trying to keep herself from retching and her mind off the disembodied corpses around them.

"You may think you've won, but this isn't over." The Master hissed. Apparently even when the situation was completely hopeless for him he was still going to keep up the stereotypical baddie act, and if Shinji wasn't feeling so awful she would have laughed.

Nindie rolled her eyes, "Oh shut up you crazy bastard." She spat back, "Come on Shinji, let's get out of here and find Hao.

"I told you already, you're precious Asakura is dead." He sneered.

Nindie glared at him, and then cast a worried look at Shinji, who didn't even seem to notice. She was staring silently at the wall to something only she could see, a small smile turning the corner of her lips. She flicked her eyes towards The Master then, the living, rippling blue iris that consumed her pupils almost glowed in the dark, and suddenly he was afraid.

"Hao isn't dead. In fact, he's already here."

The wall to the left exploded with such a burning intensity that for a moment the old man had to shield his eyes from the blazing light, but as he opened them again Hao was already upon him, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him from the ground in a choking hold. The ice that had held him in place had melted from the heat of Hao's rage, and the skin of the humans throat began to blister. He had never been so terrified in his life as he stared in fear at Hao's face, twisted with anger, and the eyes that seemed to burn hotter than the fiery pits of hell. Shinji watched in a hypnotised daze as the blazing mana violently surged around him. Hao was absolutely furious. A pained cry somehow escaped The Master's throat, and it finally clicked in her fuzzy mind what was going on.

"Hao don't, he's not worth it." She said unconvincingly. Honestly she didn't really care if he died, but she didn't want more blood on Hao's hands. She rested her head on her knees and sighed. All she wanted right now was a nice hot bath and to curl up in bed. She was exhausted, and the bright light of Hao's mana was giving her a headache.

Hao turned his glare on her, and then with a frustrated cry he threw the man across the room and out of his sight. He was only human, he couldn't do anything anyway. His time would come. For now he had an idiotic water shaman to deal with. With a deep breath to try and calm himself down, he moved towards her, crouching down beside her to check if she was alright. How did she always get herself into these messes? It seemed that every time he left her alone she got herself into trouble and he was left to fix her up afterwards. He never should have gotten her involved in this fight.

"She has a lot of deep scratch marks, a broken arm, and quite a few clumps of hair missing as you can probably tell." Nindie explained helpfully, "The Jiang Shi attacked her all at once and she freaked out. By the time she came back to her senses most of the damage was already done. I think she's still a little shaken."

Hao frowned in confusion. "Why would Jiang Shi scare her? They should have been easy to fight."

"She's absolutely terrified of them. After I died she used to have nightmares of zombies coming after her. Even after I came back and she started her shaman training that fear never really went away."

Hao nodded in understanding, the puzzle pieces finally fitting together. Shinji never did tell Hao the full story of how she had been stabbed, and now he was beginning to see the full picture. Ren's sister was a dàoshì, and her Jiang Shi followed her everywhere. He guessed that she had run away from it in a panic that had left her vulnerable to an attack. Somehow the foolish human had found out and decided to use her fear against her. Hao was able to find out the rest of the man's plans from his thoughts alone. He had decided to try and kill Shinji and Hao because his human only world could only be accomplished with them out of the way. It was infuriating, but really it shouldn't be so surprising that the roaches wanted to try and destroy all of the shaman because they possessed a power that the humans could never have. Apparently it was a little more personal for this man though. As the only human ever born of the Lemora household the jealously had festered inside of him for years. He murdered the old leader of the household by poisoning his food, and then talked his way into command with a few supportive followers and a thousand promises he never intended to keep. From there he ran the shaman family with the secret goal of destroying them all in the future, panning to use Shinji to eliminate her old enemy and then he would talk her into a 'world of equality' that he would get her to create as the shaman king. He hadn't expected her to fall in love with Hao, or that she might be knocked out of the tournament, which was why he had told her to bring Rosie with her if she got back into the fight so that he had a back up pawn in place in case Shinji refused to accept his plans. From there he was able to team up with the oyomada's to help rally an army into fighting the 'terrorists', along with a couple of shaman that he had foolishly thought would be enough for Hao to handle. They were nothing to him, but they were enough to distract him long enough for him to forget about Shinji, and by the time he realized she wasn't beside him she was already forcing her body into action and letting Nindie take over to fight the Jiang Shi. That Shinji would be able to overcome her fear, or that Hao might survive was something that The Master just didn't think of as possible, and now that he was proven wrong there was nothing he could do. His dream had come to ruin. There would be no human only world.

Hao gently lifted Shinji's face out from its hiding place between her knees, wiping away the blood that had trickled down over her eyes and the few loose hairs that had stained crimson and stuck to her cheeks. She was still shivering, and he wasn't really sure what to do about it. The spirit of fire appeared beside him, releasing himself from the armour oversoul and shifting into his human-like form to place a warm comforting hand on Shinji's back, being careful to avoid the deeper scratches.

"Cold?" He asked, casting his glowing green eyes To Hao for answers.

"No, not cold, Fire. She's just a little scared that's all." Nindie explained gently for him.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here. I can still hear you know. And I'm not scared, just a little... shaken up." Shinji clarified with a grimace, before turning her gaze back to Hao and smiling weakly. "You're late, the party's already over."

He frowned, "You weren't supposed to leave my sight."

"Yeah well, I've never been a good listener." She replied, taking his hand and placing it on her forehead, "Now fix me. I don't think I can do it myself right now, and you're giving me a headache."

He wanted to glare at him for ordering him around, but she just looked so pitiful right now that he couldn't bring himself to argue, and instead got to work healing her up. He could chastise her for being so stupid later when she didn't look so beaten up. Shinji felt her body relax as the soothing warmth flowed through Hao's palm and into her skin, and her eyes closed from the calming touch.

"Thanks." She whispered, catching his gaze part way through the healing, "And I'm sorry. I guess I should have listened to you for once. I just didn't realize what I would be getting into. I thought I could handle anything."

"Well, you did manage to save yourself, so that has to count for something I suppose," Hao replied grudgingly, "And at least now you know the Jiang Shi are nothing to be afraid of."

"No, they still scare the hell out of me. I don't think that's ever really going to change." Shinji answered, glancing over at one of the closest lifeless bodies with an involuntary shudder.

"That doesn't make sense. You defeated them, you shouldn't be afraid anymore."

She laughed, "If only it were that simple. Fear doesn't always have to make sense you know, no matter how much you try to reason with yourself it won't always make you any less afraid of it. There must be something you're afraid of.

'_losing you' _Hao thought, but he wasn't sappy enough to admit it out loud, and decided to change the subject, "What made you fight back."

Shinji smiled, "I told myself that you would kill me if I died thanks to a couple Jiang Shi and a human. You'd never let me live it down."

"You're right, I wouldn't." He smirked back, "Now hold still and let me concentrate, I still have to try and grow your hair back."

"Trust you to be so concerned about hair." She joked, but a pointed glare silenced her quickly, and she rolled her eyes as he concentrated on healing once again. Apparently re-growing things was a lot trickier than just closing wounds. Still, she was enormously glad that he was there. Somehow the whole terrifying ordeal didn't seem so bad with Hao around, even if he was an insufferable ass every time she got hurt. She realized then in that moment that she never wanted to be without him, because for all their differences and arguing she knew that she loved him, and that it was undoubtedly the same for him. She smiled at the thought, and then placed her hand in his free one with a small squeeze.

The sudden movement of grey-black behind him caught her attention, and she frowned in confusion for a moment until The Master stepped more fully into view. He looked weak and battered, with one hand clutching as his burned throat and his body hunched over slightly in pain. There was a desperate determination in his eyes, and as he raised his free arm she noticed the gun held firmly in his hand, aimed at the back of Hao's head. She didn't think, her body moved on its own as she pushed Hao out of the way just as the bullet shot out of the chamber with a loud defining bang.

The spirit of fire was the first to react, setting The Master ablaze before the old man was even able to see if the bullet had hit home. Pain filled screams echoed around the room, and the smell of roasting flesh filled Hao's nose. He didn't even notice. He was too busy staring at the body slumped over him, blood trickling out of the bullet wound in the centre of her forehead.

Back at the beach, Rosie looked up to the sky with the smallest hint of sadness in her eyes, her cat plushie clutched tightly to her chest.

"Shinji is gone."

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**Okay people, before you try to kill me this is NOT THE END! There's still a few more to go, so you aren't getting rid of me that easy =D I'd also like to point out that this story is not a tragedy, so don't worry about me giving it a depressing ending or anything like that =] Anywayz, I'm starting my illustration course next week, so updates are going to be a bit slower from now on, but hopefully I'll be able to update in about 2 weeks. And now I have to get on with my summer project or I'll never get it done =[ wish me luck guys!**


	36. C36 Hells Gate

**Hey everyone, long time no see! Sorry about the late update once again! I really didn't intend to take so long to write this, but I got a bit stuck so if this chapter really sucks I apologise XD. Thank you A-b-san, anto, SakuraTenshi36092, tifa2001, girlfun, starless-ocean, RiverOfTheWolf, NekoKitty13 and whoever the person who reviewed as 'guest' is for helping me get to 104 reviews! I was so excited to see that I finally got into triple digits that I did a little happy dance when I found out =D Cookies for everyone! Lol. I'm really sorry for leaving you all on a cliff hanger for so long, it was a little mean of me to end it that way, but hey, at least the new chapter is here now =D So I'll stop talking now and let you read lol =]**

Chapter 36- Hells gate

The sudden brightness of the space around her made Shinji cover her eyes, and stare blindly through squinting eyes into the light. Everything felt a little disorientating, like her head was ringing. Had the gunshot been that loud? She had heard something about when bullets were fired in a small space people can be momentarily stunned from the noise. Did it make them blind? She wasn't sure, but she would have thought that the room was a little too big for that to have been an issue anyway. Maybe the bullet had nicked her head or something, that could have knocked out her senses, right? But that was another issue, she didn't feel injured, in fact, she couldn't feel anything at all.

Slowly, her vision cleared, and as it did a growing sense of dread clutched at her chest. The gates of hell stood unapologetically in front of her, its large wooden doors sealed shut, and all around was a naked landscape of floating rocks. This was the last place Shinji wanted to be, and she cured loudly at her bad luck.

"Oh shit, Hao is going to kill me." She groaned, pressing her fingers to her temple as if to fight off a headache that didn't exist. Somehow a headache would have been welcomed at that moment. At least that would have meant she was still alive. She tried to remember exactly what had just happened, thinking that she should have at least felt something before she died, but there really wasn't anything. As far as deaths go it was pretty painless, so much so that if she wasn't familiar with the area she wouldn't have realized she was dead at all. Out of all of her past lives this had been the shortest of them all. So much for growing old this time around. It looked like she would be stuck with this childish body forever, or at least until she decided to be reborn again. She could already hear Hao's nagging voice in her head. He had told her not to go off on her own, and now she was dead. Of course, the small fact that she had ended up that way was by saving his life, so at least she had a good argument to go with. It didn't make the situation any less humiliating though. She had been shot. Shot! By a weasily librarian lookalike wanna-be villain! She was a shaman for crying out loud, shaman do not get shot! It just didn't happen. Only a little while ago she was blocking bullets from a helicopter with her armour oversoul, this was just ridiculous! Why was it every time she died it was stupidly? A groan escaped her as she remembered the lecture she had given Hao earlier on not underestimating guns. This one was defiantly going to come back to haunt her. Not only that, but now there was nothing to stop Hao from becoming shaman king. The idea of what might happen if she lost hadn't really sunken in until now, and it was a sour taste. She could only hope that Yoh's plan was a good one, because there wasn't anything she could do now.

"Oh god, Yoh." Just as she had finally gained the respect she deserved as a powerful shaman from Yoh and the others at the beach, she just had to go and blow it by dying.

Death sucked.

She wondered how they would take the news. Would they be sad about her death? Or would they only be afraid for themselves and their futures? She had seen it in their eyes when Hao had fought alone before she had joined in. They were terrified of his power. She didn't really need to think about Hao's reaction. No doubt he was going on a crazy pyromaniac rampage and cursing her for her immense stupidity. No doubt the master would be popping up beside her any moment now, looking like a disgustingly charred mess. She highly doubted that man would end up anywhere but in the deepest pits of hell. She probably should have felt bad for wishing bad things on someone, but to be honest that guy really didn't deserve her pity. She only regretted that he had been human, because the fact that a human had killed her would not be lost on Hao, and it would defiantly do nothing to help humanity. It would take a miracle to change Hao's mind now.

"Shinji!" The horribly familiar voice of Nindie snapped at her, and Shinji silently cursed to herself as she turned around to face the terrifying glare of the water spirit as she flew towards her. She was sure that if she wasn't already dead the look Nindie was shooting her would have killed her anyway. The particularly weird thing was that now they were in the spirit world Shinji could feel the force of Nindie's strength pressing down on her shoulders from her anger. Here in the spirit world Nindie was the all powerful spirit of rain, and Shinji was just the dead ghost of a once powerful shaman. Still, it was all about will power here, and Shinji sure had a lot of that to spare. Even in the land of the living Nindie's temper could be a little frightening though, and she sure had a lot to be mad about now. "I cannot believe you could be so stupid! How on earth could you let yourself be shot?!"

"Well, I would hardly say that I let myself get shot." Shinji replied, in the futile and foolish attempt at explaining herself.

"You jumped in front of a bullet! How can that be anything but self inflicted?"Nindie spat back.

"Well, it was sort of instinct." Shinji replied sheepishly, already wincing slightly from the explosion her friend was surely about to have.

"Instinct. Instinct! Are you bloody suicidal or something? How is taking a bullet to the brain instinct? You just got yourself killed, and for Hao of all people!"

"Now hang on," The shaman interrupted with a frown, "Why shouldn't I try and protect Hao when a crazy ass bastard is trying to shoot him? He would do the same for me."

"Maybe, but he wouldn't get himself killed for you. I'm sorry, but its true and you know it. All Hao would have done is melt that bullet before it hit you, because that's all he would need to do. That is all that _you_ should have done. For crying out loud, Shinji, what the hell were you thinking?!"

"That's exactly it you moron, I wasn't thinking. I saw that bastard point the gun at Hao and I just reacted. I know it was stupid, I know I should have just blocked it or something but to be honest after being attacked by those zombie things I'm surprised I had even managed to do that much, so don't you dare go judging me on the only reaction I had in a desperate situation. And you know what? I don't even regret it. If it we're to happen again then I would gladly take another bullet for him, because I love him! So I don't give a damn what you think. Besides," She continued, crossing her arms and glaring at the water spirit, "It's not as if this is the end for me. So what if I'm dead? It's not like I won't see everyone again. It's no big deal."

"Hao seems to think it is." Nindie replied stonily, but Shinji waved her off.

"Hao always over reacts, when he calms down he'll realize that it doesn't really matter that I'm dead. He's got an easy path to being shaman king now, and then he'll be able to see me all he wants. He'll get over it."

"No, Shinji, you just don't get it. If he was ranting and raving I wouldn't give a damn, but he isn't doing anything. He's just kind of sat there holding onto you, well, your body anyway; I couldn't even get a response out of him when I said I was coming here to speak to you. He didn't even move to deal with that stupid Master guy, Fire was the one that killed him, though I have a feeling he knew what to do because he even burned the guy's soul. I would have tried to stop him but honestly I think the world is better off without that bastard around, even as a spirit. But anyway, Hao is definitely taking your death pretty badly, and it's a little scary."

Shinji sighed and thought for a moment. She really hadn't expected this, and she didn't quite understand it. Why wasn't Hao freaking out? He was acting like a crazy person, and not the normal kind. Why couldn't he see that death was nothing to them, they were shaman, shaman could speak to ghosts all the time. Hell Shinji still spoke to her family every now and then, and she would always visit them whenever she was in the spirit world. Her mother would kill her if she didn't.

Mother.

Oh man, how could she be so stupid? Of course he was reacting so badly to her death. Every person he had ever loved and trusted had died, and he had never seen them again. Just like with his mother, and the little demon Ochiyo. Now he had somehow gotten it into his head that it would be the same for her. That was probably why he always overreacted whenever she got in to trouble, because he was afraid that she would die and he would be alone again. By saving his life Shinji had accidentally caused him even more suffering, which was ironically what she had wanted to protect him from in the first place when she refused to kill him. This wasn't a betrayal, but it was just as painful. She laughed bitterly at the thought. She had to see him somehow, to smack him upside the head and him not to worry, she hadn't abandoned. And then she remembered it, resurrection, Hao could revive the dead. Why hadn't she thought of it sooner?

"Nindie, I need you to do me a favour." She said anxiously, turning her attention back to her ghost friend.

"You want me to go back there don't you." Nindie replied with a small frown, which grew when Shinji nodded.

"Hao's not thinking straight, I think he's forgotten that he's not a kid anymore, that he has power now. He's forgotten that he can bring me back to life. I need you to go and snap him out of it."

Nindie paused for a moment, and then laughed, "How can he even forget something like that? He's a bigger idiot that you are! Alright, I'll go. But wait, what do you mean 'not a kid anymore'? "

Shinji shook her head, "I'll explain it later; just make sure he listens to you okay? Beat him up if you have to."

Nindie grinned, "Oh I'm going to enjoy this. But why aren't you coming down to do it yourself?"

"There's something I have to do first." The shaman replied, and Nindie didn't miss the glance towards Hell's gate as she said it. "beside's, I'm not one hundred percent sure the resurrection would work from down there, I can imagine bringing back an earth bound spirit would be a lot more complicated than one in the spirit world. There's that whole attachment thing, and honestly I don't want to risk it. I'm sure you'll do fine without me."

"Alright, just be careful in there, okay?"

"Eye eye mon capitan." Shinji replied with a mock salute.

Nindie laughed and rolled her eyes, and then disappeared without a word in the usual ghostly fashion.

Shinji sighed as she turned her attention back to hells gate. Though she didn't really want to it made sense to go back inside, take out the biggest demon in there, and gain the extra mana she needed to stand on equal ground to Hao before he pulled her back to the world of the living. It wouldn't take her too long, even without a spirit ally, but somehow it felt wrong to be doing this, even if it was necessary. She would get more mana just by being revived from death, but the real power came from hell, and that was what she needed. This guilty feeling really sucked. She was getting tired of being torn between fighting Hao and being with him. It seemed that every time something started to go right between someone would remind her that in the end they had to fight. She didn't know how Yoh could stand it, because it was obvious the peaceful boy didn't want to fight his brother even though everyone told him he had to. Shinji really wished she had got to talk to him more, because Yoh probably knew how she felt more than anyone. No matter what happened, the way it looked now at least one person would end up broken. It was a bitter thought. She couldn't even remember why she had wanted to be the shaman king herself anymore. Begrudgingly she walked slowly towards Hells gate, though every step was like a heavy weight. She really didn't want to do this, but she couldn't see any other way, though she was almost certain that if she did win their relationship wouldn't be able to handle the strain.

'He'll probably hate me forever,' she thought to herself miserably as she reached the doors, 'but I can't sit by and do nothing." Her hands touched the wood with only the sense that she was touching it, but without any real solid feeling, and before she could get her hand to push they swung inside, beckoning her into the darkness.

"Shinji."

At first she didn't hear the voice, so wrapped up in her own miserable thoughts, but then her ears pulled her away from herself. For a moment she wondered if she had really heard it, but as she turned around she spotted him, facing her from across the ravine, perched on one of the large rocks that littered the ground around the edge of the floating isle.

"Matamune?"

The small two tailed cat smiled at her, his eyes glowing an almost eerie green from the shadows, and he leapt from the rock to move towards her with all the grace that only a feline could posses.

"Hello, Shinji." He said pleasantly, stopping a little way in front of her.

"Wow, how are you?" Shinji asked, a grin spreading across her face, "It's been years since I saw you last."

"Five hundred and two if I'm correct, and it seems that you've been getting into trouble once again." He replied.

She laughed, "You can blame your former master for that one."

"Though not in the same way as before I see, new lives certainly are full of surprises." He said with a knowing look in his eyes.

"You can say that again." She grinned.

Matamune laughed slightly at that, but then a small frown crossed his face, and he paused for a moment before speaking, "Shinji, after everything you have been through and done for Hao-sama I hate to ask more of you."

The new spirit shot him a confused look, and he continued awkwardly, unsure of exactly how to word his request. "I'm afraid you have a choice to make, and as much as I would like for you to help us I will not hold it against us if you choose a different path."

"I don't understand," Shinji replied, "You know I'll do anything I can if you really need me, but what do you mean a choice?"

"Right now your plan is to go into hell and gain the extra bit of mana from death to stand an equal chance of defeating Hao-sama in battle before you are revived by him. That is one path, though if you choose it you must do so full heartedly, fighting in the spirit world is about your will to succeed, if there is even a hint of doubt in your mind you will lose, and as you are now I am not sure you could win."

Shinji wanted to tell him he was wrong, that she had gone into hell a thousand times and come out completely fine and that it would be no different this time, but if she really thought about it she wasn't so sure. It was true what he had said, fighting in hell was all about will power and while she doubted if it was really the right thing to do she could never win. She couldn't risk her soul like that, because if she lost it would be destroyed.

"Alright," she said finally, "you said two paths, what's the other one?"

"The other is to stay here in the spirit world."

Shinji frowned, "Okay, now I'm really confused. What use can I be if I stay dead? Even if I went back without going through hell we'd have a better chance than if I just did nothing. Who would fight Hao if I wasn't alive to do it? I mean, Yoh and his friends are strong as a group and stuff, but they wouldn't be able to fight Hao alone, they need me."

Matamune smiled slightly at the mention of Yoh, "Do you know about Yoh's plan?"

"I only know what Lyserg told me, which wasn't really all that much to be honest, and I feel like he was missing parts of it."

"Yoh is an easy person to understand, though so many people have difficulty with it. You are correct though; there is more to his plan than what Lyserg knows. Yoh plans to fight the ten patch officials to get to Hao-sama, not to beat him but to make him change. He hopes to show Hao-sama that he's not alone anymore. You actually played a part in giving him the idea."

She blinked in confusion, "Me?"

The cat nodded, "You are proof that Hao-sama is not made of stone. That he does have a heart. It made Yoh think that if you managed to bring out a softer side to Hao then perhaps he can as well, with the help of everyone else from the tournament."

"Alright, let's say I get all of this. What would you need me to do?"

"There will be a woman arriving soon, her name is Sati. She is the leader of the Ganahandra team participating in the tournament. You will need to assist her in obtaining the remaining three high spirits, and bring them to the five warriors when the time comes."

The name Ganahandra was familiar to her, they were one of the teams that made it into the finals of the tournament, but Shinji had never met anyone called Sati.

"Sorry, I'm kind of confused again. Who exactly needs the high spirits? And who are the five warriors?"

"I suppose Hao-sama would not have told you any of this, so it's not surprising that you are confused. I apologise for not making it clearer, though you have met them before. Yoh and four of his friends have obtained the power to control one of the five elemental spirits each." Matamune explained patiently, " It was a dangerous task for them, they all had to die and fight through their own personal hell to gain this ability. Lady Sati was the one who gave them the opportunity, though they were not aware of what they were in for at the time. She was also the one that brought them back. The high spirits are needed to fight Hao-sama once he becomes the shaman king, because their own spirits would be no match against the power of the great spirits Hao-sama will obtain."

Shinji listened with a growing feeling of irritation. How could all of this be happening behind her back? Why did no one seem to think that she was trustworthy enough to be told anything? It seemed that no one expected her to beat Hao anyway if they were already planning to use Nindie in their plot, because it was clear that five high spirits were needed for the five warriors, and Nindie was one of the high spirits as the spirit of rain. If she had lived did they just expect her to hand Nindie over? And how did they expect to get their hands on the spirit of fire? Actually knowing Hao he probably would just give him to them when he became king, confident that he was unbeatable. Hao obviously knew everything that had been going on, it would be hard not to know with his mind reading. Apparently even he didn't think it was important to keep her in the loop. Asshole. Now all she wanted to do was go back down to earth, kick his ass, and make everyone beg for forgiveness of their ignorance. Of course, she knew she couldn't make the decision based on her wounded pride, but that didn't mean she wasn't debating on it anyway. She needed to calm down and take a moment to think things over properly.

A sharp, harsh tug to her soul almost brought her to her knees, and she felt herself gasp for the pain of it. She looked over at matamune with wide eyes, and the look of panic on his face did nothing to reassure her.

"We're almost out of time, Hao-sama has begun the resurrection process. You must decide now Shinji, will you stay here or go back?" The cat asked hastily, urging her to answer quickly.

Another sharp pull made Shinji wince, and she had to fight to stay standing, "I-I don't know, I need more time. Damn it Hao don't be so bloody impatient! I didn't know this would hurt so much. How can this even hurt anyway, I'm dead!"

"Shinji you have to decide now, it only hurts because you're resisting, but if you don't make a choice you will be dragged back to the living before you can make up your mind. You must choose."

She felt like she was suffocating, drowning in the waves of emotion rolling into her from Hao's pull. The pain in his own soul brought tears to her eyes, it was intense, the feeling of sorrow and despair. He was desperate, clinging to her soul relentlessly. Her anger had died under his grief, and now all she wanted to do was go down to him, tell him it was alright and never hurt him like that again. She didn't want to abandon him, but she didn't want to fight anymore.

"What if Yoh's plan doesn't work?" she asked through the pain.

The cat smiled sympathetically, "You have to trust him."

She did trust Yoh, but could she really leave him to do everything without her? Then again, Matamune said that he needed her. Would this Sati person be able to get the high spirits without her? There were just too many ways this could go. If she could she would do everything herself, but she couldn't, she had to make a choice, and she had to think of the bigger picture. As much as she hated it she had to stay, for Hao's sake.

"Alright, I'm staying. You hear that Hao? Now let go already!" stubbornly, she wrenched her soul out of his grip and fell to her knees, panting for the strain on her spirit. She closed her eyes against the hollow feeling that grew in her stomach. What had she done? A breath of a touch brushed against her arm, and she shuddered against it. He was still there. She wasn't sure how, but she could feel it. There was a lingering consciousness surrounding her, a small sensation of being embrace calmed her fears and wiped away her guilt. And then it was gone. Her watery eyes opened and she pulled herself back to her feet with more confidence than she had felt in a long time. Matamune smiled at her. He had felt it too. She smiled back.

"Okay, so how do we do this?"

**Personally I prefer how this version ended compared to the other. I wasn't originally planning to change the whole ending of the chapter, just fix the few mistakes that didn't quite line up with the actual shaman king manga after I re-read it (Hao's followers had actually been revived when I thought they were still dead). Luckily I found something else Shinji could do in the spirit world to replace rounding up people who aren't even dead at that point. Sorry if this is confusing to the people who haven't read the manga, but you should totally read it at some point, it is so worth it! **

**Anywayz, to clarify a things for those of you who either haven't read or have just forgotten bits like I did, Matamune is an abandoned cat from Hao's first life that Hao decided to looked after. They understood eachother because of Hao's mind reading, and then when Matamune died Hao turned him into a Goryoushin so that the cat could stay by his side and guard him against bad spirits and deamons, and gave him a portion of his own mana to give the cat a solid body. Eventually Hao went a bit nuts with the killing all humans thing so Matamune turned against him and sided with the Asakura's, and 500 years later helped Yohken kill Hao in his second life, though Matamune always regretted it because he really liked Hao and blamed himself for his masters madness. He also had a bit of a past with Yoh and Anna when the two first met. Anna was tormented by her own mind reading powers and was constantly creating Oni (some demon things) against her own will. Yoh and Matamune teamed up and fought against one huge ass Oni to save Anna, which then used up all the mana Hao had given Matamune and he was forced to return to the spirit world. He also gave Yoh the bear claw necklace that originally belonged to Hao. Yeah that about sums him up I think lol. Oh, and Anna loses her mind reading after the Oni is defeated and she's not crazy anymore =D **

**Anywayz, thanks for reading and please review! =D**


	37. C37 The King Of Hell

**Hey everyone, just to pre-warn you that you may want to ****RE-READ THE LAST CHAPTER**** before reading this one, I made a few changes close to the end so some of this may confuse you until you read it. Sorry about that =/**

**Also I apologise for the ridiculously late update. Massive case of writers block unfortunately, and I've only just managed to power through it. I found this chapter pretty hard to write, and I think I re-wrote it about 4 times until I came up with this, just because it was so tricky trying to match it with the manga, especially when the parts I'm using haven't actually been written into shaman king itself, just briefly touched on in certain bits of the manga. It took quite a lot hunting down all the little snippets of information I felt I needed to follow the manga correctly, and shaman king wiki is my new best friend =D eventually I gave up being fussy and slapped this together, because it's not really fair to keep everyone waiting for so long, so if it sucks I apologise again. **

**On a different note, for the people who haven't already READ THE MANGA! Seriously guys, your missing out! It's all up there on , totally free! It's completely different to the anime once they get into patch village, especially with the ending, and if you got a bit confused with my manga references before, this is going to be even more confusing. So yeah, READ THE MANGA! If not for this fanfic, then just for the point that it's absolutely epic =D**

**Thanks everyone who have written reviews! You have no idea how much it means to me to hear from you guys, and if it wasn't for you all I probably would have given up on this fic looooooong ago lol.**

**Anyway, I'll shut up now and let you read. Enjoy! And if you don't enjoy... well then I suck don't I? .**

Chapter 37 – The King Of Hell

Shinji lay boredly in front of the gates of hell, waiting for the person who was supposed to be meeting her. Matamune had left a while ago with a job of his own to do. Apparently there were a few souls in the spirit world that could help with their task, and he was going to round them up. She still felt a bit weird about the whole thing. Helping Hao by making him feel less alone seems a little strange. It made sense of course, but would it really be enough? She felt like there was a part of the plan missing, like there was one last thing that they needed for it to really work. She just couldn't work out what. She sighed and stared up at the bleak white space above her where a sky should be. By this time Hao should have reached the star sanctuary and began the ritual that granted him all the powers of a god. As if he wasn't strong enough already, his ego would be so much worse as king. She realised that she didn't really spend much time thinking about being out of the tournament before when she died. What would she do with her afterlife when this was all over? Well there was Hao of course, that is assuming he would want anything to do with her anymore. Her heart felt heavy in her chest, though her body had no actual weight. She wanted to see him more than anything, but she had other things she needed to do. Unfortunately, seeing Hao would have to wait. Okay, now she was thinking too much. Ever since she had died all she'd done was mope, It was time to stop whining and complaining about Hao and actually do something. Except she couldn't, she was still waiting for Sati.

She felt rather than saw someone approaching, and sat up to get a better view. It was a woman, quite tall with long red-brown hair, wearing an orange robe of sorts and a veil with a large gold crown atop her head. A large red dot centred her forehead, and she had a strangely peaceful air about her.

"Sati?" Shinji guessed, she couldn't think who else it might be.

The woman nodded and smiled. "Shinji Lemora, I presume?"

"Yep." Shinji replied, pushing herself to her feet. Stood to full height she realised Sati was a good head and a half taller than her, and she practically craned her neck looking up at the woman. She didn't realize how short she was until now. "So uh, how do we do this?"

Sati smiled, "I see you are in a hurry."

"Well you know, time is of the essence and all that." Shinji replied, bouncing on the balls of her feet impatiently.

As if on cue, the great doors to hell slowly swung open and a large red body filled the space between them. If she didn't know any better, Shinji would have presumed this was the devil. Large muscular body, thick black horns atop his head, and strangely, a thick black moustache above his lip. This was an Oni, not the biggest she had ever seen, but still fairly impressive size. It moved towards them, and dropped down on one knee in front of Sati.

"Lady Sati, I'm here to be your guide." He said a little gruffly, and Sati smiled.

"Thank you, Oh-oni." She replied calmly, and Shinji felt herself staring at her. It was pretty impressive, having an oni like the one in front of them serving Sati. Clearly this woman was more powerful than she looked. Sati turned to her then, "Well then, are you prepared to go in?"

Shinji nodded, and the two followed Oh-oni into hell, the gates silently closing on their own behind them. They walked in silence up several narrow passageways, their footsteps strangely echoing around them.

"So, you're the leader of the on Gandhara right?" Shinji asked curiously. Matamune had told her a little bit about the woman before they had actually met, but it would have felt weird not to have tried to get to know Sati on her own.

"I am a priestess of the Gandhara order, but of the Ganaharda here? I suppose I could be considered their leader." Sati replied, "We try to keep the peace as best we can. I am not a believer of violence, but unfortunately sometimes it is necessary."

"Well I guess that's what I'm here for then. The violent part." Shinji joked.

"I suppose that's one way to think of it." Sati smiled.

Oh Oni led them up a flight of weathered stone stairs to a large platform weakly lit by torchlight. All around them placed atop five cliffs were five large stone doors, each with the small kanji symbol of an element decorating the centre, and illuminated by a light. The doors for water and fire were left unlit, and Shinji presumed that was because she and Hao had already obtained the two spirits that were supposed to reside there. Shinji found herself thinking that it was a good thing Nindie was free to move as she pleased, if she had been cooped up in here like the other high spirits she would have gone insane.

She turned to Sati then, who seemed to be studying the doors curiously.

"So what do we do now? Just knock and see if anybody's home?" She asked the taller woman, but before she could get her answer, a huge body fell from above, crashing into the ground with so much force that Shinji felt the vibration run up her legs, and she was unsteady on her feet for a moment. Just as quickly as it fell, it stood up straight, towering over them at an almost impossible height. He had to be at least twice the size of Nindie in her spirit of rain form, and about five times as wide, dressed in traditional Japanese robes and a large crown atop his head. A large black beard seemed to cover most of his face, but two empty white eyes stared down at them angrily.

"I am Enma Daioh, King of hell. Leave now, puny spirits, if you wish to save your souls."

Oh Oni backed away quickly. He might have been seemed tough before, but here his power was minute in comparison to this much greater demons.

"You may leave, Oh Oni." Sati said, not talking her eyes of the huge guardian before her, "Thank you for leading us here."

"You people are crazy, but good luck to ya." He said, wasting no time on fleeing the scene back out the way they came.

Shinji turned her attention back to the king of hell and stepped forwards.

"Uh, hi. We just want to borrow the high spirits for the five warriors, just for a little while." She said with a smile. She doubted this would work, but it was worth a try.

"I cannot allow anyone access to the high spirits but the Shaman King." Replied Enma Daioh.

"Well, in a way we need them to save the Shaman King." Shinji said, though it didn't seem to convince the giant spirit for a second.

"No exceptions." He growled.

The water shaman frowned for a moment, then breathed in deeply and yelled, "HAO, LET ME BORROW THE HIGH SPIRITS PLEASE!"

Sati looked at Shinji in surprise, and the king of hell almost looked confused.

Shinji shrugged when there was no reply. "No one can say I didn't try."

Sati smiled, "That is true."

"Well then, I guess it's time to fight." She replied with a grin, already summoning the water into her palms and allowing it to slither up her arms, "Sati, you're good at those sutra chants right? Would you be able to seal this guy somewhere out of the way?"

"Yes, though he is quite large. It might take me some time." Sati replied.

"Guess I better keep him busy then."

"How dare you!" Boomed Enma Daioh, "I, the king of hell, cannot be sealed away by a pathetic human spirit. Die for your insolence!"

Shinji quickly lept out of the way as a huge hammer smashed down where she once stood, shattering rock and stone, and sending the fragments flying off in all directions. Sati stood safely behind a barrier, already beginning the chant that would trap Enma Daioh.

"I'm already dead you idiot." Shinji taunted with a laugh as the king of hell swung at her again. For a big guy he was pretty fast, and Shinji had to keep on her toes to avoid each hit, but she was doing a good job of distracting him from the real threat. Ah the the hammer smashed at the ground again she took the opportunity to freeze it to the ground, encasing it totally in ice. Enma roared in outrage as it slipped from his hand when he tried to lift it again. The water shaman swiftly moved behind him, freezing his legs solid and leaping away again. Enma grasped at the hammer, trying to wrench it from the ground, but as his hand touched the ice it bit at his skin, holding it in place with its frozen chill as it slowly crept up his arm. Shinji moved back and watched as the ice did the rest of her work for her. The ice moved up to his shoulder, and as he tried to knock it away with his other hand it caught hold and began working its way up that arm as well. The Ice on his legs had already moved up to his waist, and it was travelling faster now, covering his torso up to the neck and joining up with the ice from his arms until his whole body was almost covered. Enma shouted out one final scream of defiance as the ice covered his face, freezing his whole body completely and rendering him motionless.

Shinji grinned triumphantly, "Well that was surprisingly easy. I expected him to be tougher than that." She thought aloud as she slowly walked back to Sati. The older woman's face was pinched in concentration, but it looked like she was almost done with the chant, and then they could get the high spirits and be done with this. Shinji was looking forward to a break, all this fighting was fun, but the situation that came with it really wasn't. She wondered what Hao thought about travelling. Though he had probably already been everywhere and how much time would the shaman king have for other stuff? She didn't notice the sounds of cracking ice until a large chunk broke off and fell at her feet. Shinji stared at it for a moment, and then turned just as the ice encasing Enma Daioh shattered and his massive fist came down over her head. The king of hell shook the blood off of his hand and looked at the splattered mess on the ground with a laugh.

"Foolish spirit, the dead can still die." He said, before turning on Sati and giving her a mock smile, "Now it's your turn."

Sati glance briefly at the blood on the floor, then back up at the approaching Enma as he stepped over it and towards her, but she didn't stop chanting even for a second. Her eyes flickered back to the pool of blood as it started moving, shifting back into the form of Shinji. Enma didn't seem to notice, and pulled the hammer out from the ice and grinned menacingly at Sati as he lifted it above his head. Shinji pulled herself up and then shook herself all over.

"Ugh, that felt weird." She said, and Enma stopped in his tracks, confused. "Okay, I may have deserved that for being a little cocky, but you deserve this for crushing me." Shinji summoned a blade of ice, forming it around her hand, and then stabbed deep into the back of his heel with all of her strength. Enma howled in pain, stumbling around and falling to his knees for a moment. She moved quickly, throwing up her armour oversoul and shooting in the air. The tentacle arms of the oversoul latched onto the arms of the king of hell, and held him in place. "Any time now Sati." Shinji said, struggling to hold him down and forcing him still with more of her spectral limbs.

Sati began to glow a gold colour, and held out her staff with one hand while performing the hand signs with the other. With a burst of colour, and a final chant, the light shot out from her staff and surrounded Enma Daioh. Shinji released him quickly and flew back, she didn't want to accidentally get sealed away too. Less than a minute later and the massive form of the king of hell was gone, and the space looked a whole lot bigger.

"For a moment I thought you really were gone." Sati said with a smile.

Shinji released her armour oversoul and dropped to the ground, straightening up with a grin, "Like I said, you can't die when you're dead. At least not when you've got some strong will power. He should have known that too."

"I can imagine he's never fought anyone who had been able to get back up again." Sati replied, and Shinji shook her head.

"No, Hao beat him five hundred years ago. That's how he got the spirit of fire in the first place."

"And now Hao is the shaman king."

"Yeah, I bet Enma loves that," Shinji laughed, "Though he's going to love what we do even more."

Sati chuckled slightly, and the two moved towards the closest door, the one that held the spirit of earth. Shinji wondered how they would open it for a moment, there was no handle, and the door seemed huge and impossible to move, but just like with the gates of hell, as her fingertips brushed the door it swung open. The spirit of earth sat silently in its room, motionless as sati approached. Shinji waited by the door and watched curiously as the older woman stopped in front of the colossal spirit. Its huge head turned towards her slowly, and looked down at her with large yellow eyes.

"We need your help. Will you come with us?" Sati said, holding out her hand to the huge spirit.

The spirit of earth seemed to think for a moment, and then glanced over at Shinji, holding her gaze. Then it nodded, and faded away in the usual ghostly fashion.

The same thing happened with the two remaining high spirits, following Shinji and Sati with silent agreement, and they made their way out of hell with ease. As the gates shut behind them they stopped, and Sati turned to the water spirit.

"Thank you, Shinji, for your help."

Shinji smiled, "That's alright, I'm just glad I was actually able to do something. Being dead wasn't exactly part of my plan."

"There is still time to revive you, when I return to earth I can bring you back to life if you want me to." Sati offered, but Shinji shook her head.

"Thanks, but I don't think there's much point now. Hao's about to be king, Horohoro needs Nindie, there's no real need for me anymore. Besides, I kinda want to go and see him. Hao I mean, not Horohoro.." The water shaman laughed, "It just seems easier if I'm still all ghosty and transparent. I won't have to walk."

"Are you sure it wouldn't be better to wait in the spirit world?"

"Nah, I'd get bored. Besides, I'm curious about this whole shaman king ritual thing. I won't get the chance to check it out for another five hundred years if I miss it."

"Alright. Would you like me to send you to the star sanctuary?" Sati offered, holding out her staff, "It would be no trouble."

Shinji grinned, "Ah awesome, thanks! Honestly I wasn't really all that sure how I was going to get there."

Sati smiled and a moment later with a few words, her staff glowed a bright gold, and Shinji felt had to cover her eyes against the bright light that surrounded her.

"Goodbye, Shinji. We will meet again soon."

As the light slowly faded around her Shinji peered around at her new surroundings. Sati was gone, and Shinji felt a little bad for not thanking her properly. After all, everything they did together was for Hao, in a roundabout way at least. The bleak barren land of hells gate was gone, replaced by a hot planetarium surrounded by lush tropical vegetation, and the ruins of an old civilisation. The light of the great spirits shone in the air like a beacon, filling the area with supernatural light. Shinji looked around cautiously for any of the patch officials that might be guarding this place, and allowed her body to fade into invisibility. She might not have considered the patch as a threat before, but here they had to protect the shaman king, and everyone was considered a threat. It was best to try and keep out of their way for now. Shinji followed the huge flight of stairs upwards towards the great spirits, moving slower than she was really capable as a spirit. For some reason she felt nervous, and although there were several reasons for it, she couldn't quite pin it down to exactly why she felt that way. Perhaps she was just being cautious. As she reached close to the top she avoided a skull that had carelessly been abandoned on the stairs, and a shiver ran down her spine. Even a half crushed like that one skill managed to creep her out. She could see Hao now, just a little way ahead of her sat atop a stone throne under a large arch, and surrounded by foliage. She almost laughed as she got closer, and became visible again without even realising it. Even when gaining the almighty powers of the shaman king, Hao just had to sit around topless.

Still, looking down at Hao was the strangest thing to her. It was like looking at a totally different person, and she realized that without his spirit inside of it, the shell of his body changed completely. Somehow he felt like a stranger to her, but at the same time not. The body had his hair and his shape, but he seemed smaller somehow, and all sense of power was gone. This was the body of a sixteen year old boy, and without the inhabitancy of the thousand year old spirit, that's all it was. This wasn't Hao, just the body he had cast away. Shinji wasn't sure why she felt so shocked to realize this, because it was obvious all along when she had already seen Hao's previous form from five hundred years ago. Without realising it, his physical form meant nothing to her, and in a way that made her sad. She came back to earth to see him, but he wasn't really there. This time, she was the one left alone. It all just seemed so anticlimactic.

"What are you doing here?" Goldva cried, only just realising that the ghost girl had appeared at all, "I will not allow you to interfere with the ritual!"

Shinji sighed, silently cursing herself and turned to the old woman, "Relax Goldva, I'm not going to do anything. I just wanted to see him."

"The Shaman King is bound to the spirit world, being here will only distract his soul from attaining power. You must leave. Now." Goldva replied, and a large spirit oversoul towered over her, its face covered by an imposing mask shaped like a birds face. "I will send you back to the spirit world where you belong."

The old woman began to chant, and the large spirit leaned down, reaching out to grab Shinji up in its hand, but something threw the spirit back with so much force it flew across the sanctuary. As it crashed into the wall the dome seemed to shake. Goldva's voice stopped mid sentence, and she grabbed at her own throat, gasping and wheezing as she fell to her knees.

"S-shaman King-sama." She croaked, staring with wide, petrified eyes behind Shinji.

A hand grabbed Shinji's writs, firm and solid, and cold. A living persons hand shouldn't be that cold. A living persons hand shouldn't be able to hold her like that at all. Shinji turned slowly, already terrified at what she was going to find. Two dead eyes stared at her from a face that should be Hao's, and she felt her soul go numb with fear. He was dead. His body was dead, and it was moving. This wasn't supposed to be happening. He held her gaze, seeming to study her for a moment. Those brown eyes she loved were frozen now, twisted into something empty and hollow; even when they didn't like each other they had never been so cold. His other hand came up to gently touch the side of her face, and she flinched slightly.

"You have nothing to be afraid of." His body said, and he released her arm and stepping away from her. Shinji fell to her knees harder than her weightless body should have been capable of.

"You on the other hand..." He said to the old woman, watching with a cruel smile on his face as she choked and gasped, her face turning slightly blue.

It took a moment for Shinji to realize that Hao was suffocating Goldva somehow, even though there was a good ten feet between them, and his body had barely moved from Shinji's side. If she didn't do something Goldva was going to die. But she was petrified, even after defeating the Jiang Shi, even after Hao had tried to reassure her she was alright, and even without a body of her own, corpses terrified her. But this was Hao. Even if he wasn't inhabiting his body, his soul was still controlling it from the spirit world. She had nothing to be afraid of.

"S-stop it!" Shinji cried, throwing herself in front of him, and blocking his view of the woman on the floor. Goldva sucked in air almost instantly, wheezing and coughing loudly behind her. Shinji stood her ground, though her legs trembled and her eyes were captured by soulless dark pupils.

"What are you doing here, Shinji?"

"I came to see you." She answered.

"You should have waited for me in the spirit world."

"I'm not good at waiting."

They both stared silently at each other, and although Shinji was still afraid, she felt her confidence growing. Both were aware of Goldva escaping on her giant spirit in the background, though now that he was king, there would be no escape from Hao.

"Are you going to try to stop me?" He asked.

"You know I can't do anything this way." She replied, hoping he hadn't noticed the slight twisting of words, though with his mind reading he probably did.

"I'm going to send you back to the spirit world. You won't want to see what I'm about to do next."

Her eyes went wide, but before she could ask what he was planning, she felt her spirit being forcibly thrown back into the spirit world. She looked around at the drab white space and sighed, silently hoping that Yoh and his friends would be okay.

**Well that's that for now. SO CLOSE TO THE END! Makes me sad =[ On the plus side I'm going to confirm now that there will be a sequel that I've actually had planned out for a while now, and I can't wait to start writing it =D Once I finish polishing up some of the old chapters of this story, and actually finished it of course =] Also if there's any mistakes (which there will be since I rushed a lot to get this done in the end) please PM me so I can fix them!**

**Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW! I promise I won't leave you all hanging for absolutely months on end again! It would be cruel this close to the end =] ... ='[ **


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